Joseph Joestar: Hamon Hunter
by lolrus555
Summary: Beacon Academy was already a strange place to begin with, but with the trickster of the Joestar bloodline now attending the school, Team RWBY's and Team JNPR's next four years here are now guaranteed to be truly bizarre. Rated T for language and the usual amount of blood you'll find in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Image by Chappy-chan.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, since people wouldn't shut up about it, (Although I can't really say I blame them for complaining about it in retrospect. Adding Japanese phrases to your English stories is actually really stupid the more I think about it), I've started to work on removing all the gratuitous Japanese from the story, namely, Joseph screaming nani. I'm sorry for adding that crap in early on, I just thought the way he screamed it all the time in the anime was hilarious. But yeah, I'm pretty sure I stopped doing that after chapter 6, so after that chapter, I can guarantee there'll be nothing else like that in the story.**

 **Not much to say about this except I wanted to try my hand at making a JoJo/RWBY fanfic, so I hope you enjoy. Also, I aged Joseph down a year for the purposes of this fic, so he's now 17. I don't think it's that big of a deal, afterall, I've only aged him down by one year so he'll be the same age as the rest of the Beacon students. Anyway, enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: JoJo's bizarre adventure and RWBY belong to Hirohiko Araki and Rooster Teeth respectively. As you can imagine, I own nothing.**

"Now Kars, your next line's gonna be: "Did you plan this too, JoJo?" TO YOU!" Joseph yelled out, smug satisfaction at the sudden turn of events clear in his voice. As he predicted, Kars began to repeat exactly what the brunette claimed he was going to say.

"Did you plan this-"

Or at least he would've if a series of stray rocks from the volcanic blast didn't suddenly get launched into his waist. Thanks to the newfound power bestowed upon him by the red stone of Aja, the rocks themselves didn't harm Kars at all. The force and speed from the rocks did, however, send him flying even further up the Earth's altitude.

"DID YOU PLAN THIS TOO, JOJOOOOOO!?" Kars screamed out, his voice beginning to fade out as he was launched further into the sky. However, Joseph knew that if he screamed loudly enough, he could still hear him. So, with the last of his strength, Joseph Joestar threw his right fist into the air and screamed triumphantly to the heavens.

"YOU'RE GODDAMN RIGHT, JACKASS! YOU'VE BEEN PLAYING RIGHT INTO THIS JOJO'S HAND FROM THE VERY BEGINNING!"

It was a bluff of course, but as long as it would piss Kars off, the Joestar would be happy to boast he beat the ultimate lifeform through intricate planning rather than dumb luck. Once Joseph yelled this out, he took a series of slow, deep breath before he closed his eyes and spread his arms out, letting the feeling of success run through him.

"...It's over." He whispered, falling back lethargically onto the stone platform, opening his eyes briefly just to take in the sight of the many beautiful stars around him.

"Grandma..." Joseph uttered, his eyes starting to close slowly once more, and a look of content clear on his face.

"Smokey... Stroheim... Speedwagon... Lisa Lisa...

.

.

.

Caesar... I think we're done here." And once Joseph said this, his consciousness finally slipped away. He knew he was going to die here, but he didn't care. He managed to fulfill his destiny and avenge the person who he grew to love like a brother in the short time he knew him. And besides, at least he was gonna go out in a figurative and literal blaze of glory. There were certainly worse ways to die as far as he was concerned.

However, what Joseph didn't realize was that fate still had plans for him.

As the slab of rock began to enter the planet's atmosphere, the Red Stone of Aja, which was still tightly clenched in Joseph's hand, began to emit white and red electricity which danced through his body, the leftover Hamon energy from Kars' attack causing the stone to heal the Joestar's wounds.

Considering the capabilities of the Hamon, these effects weren't surprising, however, thanks to the sheer power behind Kars' Hamon, the stone began to _regrow_ Joseph's severed arm. In no time at all, the bloody stump was soon replaced with a brand new forearm. The body part had a hot steam coming off it, indicating a certain... fresh quality to it.

However, this wasn't the only surprise the stone had in store. The electricity, which was still dancing over Joseph's unconscious body, began to increase in quantity until it covered him entirely. Suddenly, in a flash of red light, both Joseph and the stone were gone, leaving only a hunk of volcanic rock which was now speeding towards the planet.

It was thanks to this anomaly that Joseph Joestar was considered dead to the world. When Von Stroheim made it back to civilization, he told Joseph's friends and family exactly what happened, forcing them to accept the only possible conclusion: that the 17-year-old Joestar burned up in the atmosphere. The one who took the news the worst was Lisa Lisa, who never had the chance to reveal to Joseph that she was really Elizabeth Joestar, his long lost mother.

However, what none of them realized is that Joseph Joestar did not die. In fact, while his saga against the pillar men had come to an end, another one was about to begin.

 **Joseph Joestar: Hamon Hunter**

* * *

"Oof, man..." Joseph groaned as he sat up, his memory hazy and his consciousness slowly beginning to return to him. "I feel sore all over, what the hell happened-?!"

It was at this point that the following facts began to dawn on the brunette.

1\. He wasn't dead.

2\. He could feel every single limb attached to his body. Including the forearm that he lost.

3. **He wasn't dead.**

Once these facts made their way into Joseph's head, he immediately checked his body. To his shock, instead of a bloody stump where his arm was cut off by Kars, instead found his bare forearm, completely restored! In fact, despite the sore aching that was radiating throughout his body, he appeared to be completely unscathed.

"I...I don't believe it! I'm alive! I'M ALIVE! AND ALL MY LIMBS ARE INTACT! HAHA!" Joseph yelled happily, throwing back his head and laughing, joy and relief clear in his voice. When his laughter eased into a slight chuckle, the brunette took a deep breath and looked at his surroundings.

"An alley? Jeez, where'd I even land?" After taking a brief look at his surroundings, Joseph found that he seemingly landed in some rundown alleyway. There wasn't any indication as to where he was, but considering he was in a dirty back alley, that wasn't all too surprising.

"Well," Joesph grunted as he forced himself up. "I better take a look around. Gotta find a payphone and let granny Erina and Speedwagon know I'm still alive." However, as the brunette made his way towards the exit of the alley, he felt his legs almost give out beneath him.

"WOAH! shit!" Joseph gasped out as he stumbled into the black wall, trying to steady himself.

"I'm a little shaky on my feet. I guess getting launched into space will do that to you." And true to his word, the Joestar's legs felt like they were going to give out any second. Thankfully, he had the perfect medicine for this type of ailment.

 **"Koooohh..."**

After sliding down into a sitting position, Joseph began to take a series of deep breaths. In no time at all, he felt a soul-warming sensation run through his body and the numbness in his legs began to fade away. When the job was done, he got up and tested his legs to make sure they were working right.

"Man, is there anything hamon CAN'T do?" Joseph asked rhetorically, pleased with the healing effects it had.

* * *

"Well, I guess it can't tell me where the hell I am!" The annoyed Joestar muttered as he walked down _another_ identical city street.

"Seriously, I haven't seen a single goddamn person in the last hour! What gives!?" Despite looking all over the place, Joseph hadn't seen a single person or payphone in these city streets, which was all very strange. This city clearly wasn't abandoned. All the buildings were in good condition, the streets were well maintained, and there were brightly lit streetlights on the sidewalks as well, making it feel like it was high noon despite the empty night sky.

"Oh good grief..." Joseph sighed, running a hand through his hair. "This is just rich. I manage to survive dive bombing an immortal god into an active volcano, getting my arm cut off, my leg nearly vaporized, getting launched into space and apparently crashing into the Earth, and yet I can't find _a fucking payphone._ If this was happening to anybody else, I'd probably laugh my ass off at their crappy luck."

However, as Joseph reflected on his zigzagging luck, he noticed something further ahead that caught his attention. At the corner of the street, he saw a brightly lit soda machine, it's colored lights practically calling out to him.

"Hey hey~! Small blessings! An ice-cold coke would make a nice pick-me-up right about now!" Joseph noted happily as he approached the vending machine, fishing a few coins out of his pocket as he did so. However, his grin quickly faded when he took a look at the contents of the machine.

"WHAT!? What the hell is all this crap!? 'Pumpkin Pete's sugar blast!?' 'Second Made pink lemonade!?' Wh-!? WHAT THE HELL IS A "BAJA BLAST!?" Where's the Coca-Cola!?" Did fate just want to screw Joseph over? It was bad enough that he was stuck in the middle of god-knows-where with no way to contact his family, but now he couldn't even enjoy a ice cold, refreshing beverage!? The Joestar could only grit his teeth in annoyance before he sighed and put 6 cents into the vending machine anyway.

"Well, beggars can't be choosers. I guess I'll take a bottle of that "Pumpkin Pete" stuff." However, despite pressing the button and waiting a moment, the machine wouldn't dispense the beverage. Writing it off as the machine being unresponsive, Joseph merely pressed the button again.

When the vending machine **still** didn't give him his drink, he started to get annoyed.

"C'mon you piece of crap, WORK!" Joseph said angrily, slamming his fist into the side of the machine. When it still wouldn't dispense the drink, a sly smirk made it's way onto the brunette's face.

"Okay," Joseph began, placing his palm in the side of the vending machine. "You want to play dirty, huh? Well two can play at that game! **OVERDRIVE!** " He yelled, surging Hamon through the vending machine. Normally, Joseph wouldn't abuse his powers like this, but considering he saved the world from an immortal god in a loin cloth, he figured nobody would really care about something like this in the long run.

After unleashing the power of the sun through the vending machine, a crap-ton of drinks started pouring out of it, along with a lot of coins in the change dispenser.

"Ha! Eat shit you hunk of junk!" Joseph said triumphantly, taking two glass bottles of Pumpkin Pete. He was about to open up the bottle and take a sip when the coins from the machine caught his eye.

"That's weird," Joseph said, kneeling down to get a better look. Upon closer inspection, Joseph saw that these coins came in a variety of different colors and had some odd engravings on them.

"I've never seen money like this before. Just what country am I in right n-?"

 ***CRASH***

Before Joseph could finish that sentence, he heard what sounded like glass shattering and an explosion around the corner.

"Finally, somebody's nearby!" Joseph exclaimed, completely ignoring the explosion's implications in favor of finding somebody who could tell him where he is. Wasting no time, the muscular brunette got up and ran around the corner, and he was a bit confused by the situation in front of him.

"...The hell? Is that girl holding a giant scythe…?"

* * *

 **(A few moments earlier)**

"...Are you...robbing me?" Ruby Rose asked the man in the black suit in front of her, who was currently pointing a curved red sword at her.

"Yes, I am! Now put your hands up!" He answered, clearly annoyed at Ruby's apparent obliviousness to the situation.

"Oh!"

 ***CRASH***

The next moment, the man was sent flying out the window of the From Dust Till Dawn store and sprawled onto the street. While the rest of the thugs were put on guard by this and readied their weapons. Their leader, a man with a cane, a bowler hat, cigar, and orange hair, only looked at the girl who jumped out the broken window with curiosity and slight annoyance.

Ruby, who was holding onto Cresent Rose in it's rifle form, quickly morphed it into it's scythe form and readied herself for the upcoming onslaught.

"Excuse me!"

However, before Ruby could attack or the orange haired man could sic his underlings on her, a masculine voice spoke up from behind the crowd of gangsters, drawing everyone's attention to it, and what they saw was unexpected, to say the least.

Standing behind the crowd of men was a muscular 6 foot tall man with a handsome face and slightly spiked brown hair. The man in question had a very strange wardrobe, consisting of a dark green crop top which showed off his prominent abs and a light green pair of cargo pants. It was also worth noting that he was wearing gloves and cowboy boots, along with some wrappings around his wrists. Before anybody could question just what the deal with this bizarre man was, he spoke up once again.

"Ah… yeah, look, sorry about interrupting... whatever it is you people are doing, but I'm a bit lost. If any of you guys could just point me to the nearest payphone, that'd be great." He explained, biting his lower lip slightly as he took in his surroundings.

 _'...Is this guy serious...?'_ Roman Torchwick thought, dumbfounded, as he looked at the gigantic man in front of him. This really was shaping up to be a bizarre night. What was supposed to be a simple "go in, get the dust, and leave." job turned south the moment that red huntress wannabe started shooting up his employees. And now, he had to deal with this big guy? It all seemed rather contrived, honestly.

If this was any other person, Roman would've blasted them with his melodic cudgel and called it a night, but there was something about this man in front of him that suggested he do otherwise, and wasn't just because he looked like he could snap a man in half like a matchstick. Just by looking at him, Roman could tell that this guy emitted an aura different from anything else he'd ever seen before, and he knew it wouldn't end well if he gave him a reason to be out for his blood.

 _'I better just tell him what he wants to hear, then I'll deal with Red over there.'_ However, before Roman could point Joseph to the nearest payphone (which was conveniently far away from), one of the men he hired walked up to the brunette and pointed his sword at his neck.

"How about this instead?" The man snarled. "Why don't you give us everything on you and get lost, and WE won't dice you up? Sound fair, dumbass?" He mocked, causing Roman to slam his palm into his face, both annoyed and dumbfounded by his hired help's idiocy.

' _Good grief, I knew hiring these idiots was a bad idea. Can't they see this guy is bad news!?'_ Roman thought. Before he could make any attempt to salvage the situation, however, the muscular stranger spoke up once again.

"Hm? I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that," The man said, leaning in and cleaning his ear. "could you repeat what you said for me please? Maybe in a language I actually understand? But I have to warn you," Suddenly, before the gangster could react, the man pushed him away and pointed at him.

"I don't like what I hear, and I'll kick your ass sideways!"

' _Woah... this guy is fearless! I bet he has some super awesome secret trick he'll use on this guy!'_ Ruby thought, already jumping to conclusions, which really weren't far off from the truth.

The thug, while put off by the man's bravado, quickly recomposed himself before he pointed his sword at him once again.

"I said give me everything in your wallet you-!" **"OVERDRIVE!"**

Before the man could finish his sentence, Joseph suddenly grabbed onto the blade, and before anybody could react, a bright yellow energy surged up the blade and through the mobster's body. The man could only scream in pain for a brief second before he passed out from the shock. After a moment of surprise from the sudden display, Roman spoke up.

"well, this is new…" The professional thief remarked dryly, trying to mask his confusion with nonchalance. When he noticed that nobody was still doing anything, he gave an annoyed grunt before speaking up again.

"Well, what are you waiting for? _get them."_ Once they heard the orders, the rest of the thugs sprung into action, rushing Joseph and Ruby.

"ALRIGHT, I GUESS WE'RE DOING THIS NOW!" Without skipping a beat, Joseph rammed a hamon filled punch into the gut of the nearest thug, sending him flying.

' _Hmm, well I can't let him hog all the action, now can I?'_ Ruby thought, quickly parrying a sword slice with Crescent Rose and activating her semblance. In no time at all, the both of them took down the rest of the thugs with little to no effort. When the final thug tried to get the jump on Joseph from behind, the silver-eyed girl wasted no time and shot him in the gut, sending him sprawling towards Roman.

"Well, I can see you fellows were a wonderful investment on my part." He remarked dryly to the bleeding out man at his feet before he looked to Ruby and Joseph with a casual expression on his face.

"Well you two, I think we can all agree this has been an… interesting evening, but I've got a busy schedule, so I believe this," He said, pointing his cane at them. "Is where we part ways." Suddenly, the bottom of the cane popped up, revealing a scope, and fired, sending a fiery explosive towards the two of them.

"Uh oh…" "OH SHIT!"

Not wasting any time, Joseph quickly threw himself out of the way, rolling onto the ground and feeling small bits of rubble fall on his back from the ensuing explosion.

"Whoa! Are you okay?" When the dust cleared, Joseph saw that girl in black and red standing over him, offering her hand.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He grunted as he took her hand before quickly checking his surroundings. "But where'd that bastard go!?"

"Over there!" Looking to where she was pointing, Joseph saw the orange haired man climbing up the ladder of a nearby building, likely trying to make his getaway. Upon seeing this, he smirked and pointed his soda bottle at him.

"Hey buddy! Leaving so soon? WHY DON'T YOU STAY FOR A DRINK!" As he yelled this, Joseph filled the soda bottle with an excess amount of Hamon, causing the cap to fly at the speed of a bullet towards the still climbing Roman.

"Wait what?"

 ***Ker-ACK***

Fortunately for him, Joseph's aim was a bit off, causing the bottle cap to hit the wall to his right. That, however, didn't stop Roman from being shocked by the small hole it created.

'... _WELL THEN! He can turn bottle caps into lethal weapons!... I better speed this up.'_

Ruby was currently experiencing similar thoughts herself.

' _DID HE JUST USE A BOTTLE CAP LIKE A BULLET!? THAT'S SO AWESOME!'_

"Damn, I really need to work on my aim." He said to himself, lamenting how out of practice he became with firing bottle caps at people, before looking to Ruby. "I'm gonna try and catch him before he gets away. You coming?" Upon hearing this, the silver-eyed girl could only smile and ready Crescent Rose.

"I have a lot of questions I'd like to ask you, the biggest one being whether or not I could get your autograph, but they can wait. Try and keep up!" Suddenly, Ruby fired Crescent Rose towards the ground, the recoil sending her flying towards the rooftop Roman climbed onto. Joseph could only stare in surprise for a brief moment before he followed after her, rushing towards the ladder of the building and quickly climbing up it. _'Well, that's one way to make your recoil useful!'_ The Joestar thought as he reached the top of the ladder.

"Stop right there!" When he managed to get a good look at the scene in front of him, Joseph saw that Ruby was a few feet in front of him and looking at Roman, who was on the other side of the rooftop and standing on the edge. When he noticed that the two of them caught up, he could only let out an irritated growl before he spoke up.

"Persistent..." Suddenly, before Joseph or Ruby could attack, a gigantic, airborne vehicle that the Joestar had never seen before rose up from the edge of the roof. Smirking at his new form of escape, Roman quickly jumped into the vehicle's open side doors before he looked towards his pursuers with a smug smile.

"END OF THE LINE, YOU TWO!" He yelled triumphantly, throwing a red crystal towards Joseph and Ruby before shooting at it with his cane. He only had a split-second to comprehend this, but the Joestar quickly realized that this man essentially threw a high-power explosive at the both of them. With no time to react, Joseph could only vocalize his horror.

"OH NOOOOO-" ***BOOM***

However, when the dust from the explosion began to clear, Joseph quickly realized that he was completely unscathed. What's more, he also began to take notice of a third person on the rooftop, who was standing in front of him and Ruby. Despite the angle, the muscular managed to get a good look at the woman in front of him.

She was a woman of a tall height, seemingly just as tall, perhaps even taller, than Joseph. She had a beautiful face with short, slightly curled, bright blonde hair and bright green eyes that appeared to glow. She was wearing a pair of knee high black boots with black leggings, along with a black corset, a white, long sleeved dress shirt and an uneven purple cape.

 _'Damn! This hottie could give Lisa Lisa a run for her money in the looks department!'_ Thought Joseph, so transfixed by the woman's good looks he nearly forgot about the situation at hand. However, he was brought back to reality when the woman brought out what appeared to be a riding crop and used it to fire several beams of purple energy at the air-based vehicle. The vehicle took the hits dead on but still remained in the air. Realizing she would have to up her game, the woman launched a small bright-purple ball of energy above the vehicle. Suddenly, storm clouds started to spawn over the helicopter and ice shards, of all things, started peppering the vehicle, piercing it in various places.

' _Okay, it's official, wherever this place is, it's weird… AND I LIKE IT!'_ Thought Joseph excitedly as he watched the scene before him play out. It was like something straight out of a superman comic! It was exciting, tense, and full of action! However, before the blonde woman could continue her attack, she noticed somebody stand on the side door of the vehicle. It was hard to tell what she looked like from this distance, but from what could be seen, she was wearing an elegant red dress and had a pair of glowing yellow eyes.

Suddenly, the mysterious woman launched several beams of bright yellow energy at Joseph and the others. The lasers hit the ground around them and caused the spots they hit to start lighting up. The blonde woman quickly realized what was going to happen and used her magic to push Ruby and herself away from the parts of the ground that were about to detonate. She would've done the same for Joseph, but it proved unnecessary as he already dashed out of the way.

Deciding to finish this, the blonde woman summoned 3 purple chains that latched onto the helicopter and began to drag it towards the ground. However, before the chains could ground the vehicle, the yellow-eyed woman covered the chains with a yellow energy, causing them to disintegrate. At this point, Ruby tried to fire a few shots at the woman, but she easily blocked all of them with a raise of her hand. Joseph would've tried to assist, but none of his Hamon attacks could be used at long range, and he had no items to even make an attempt to do so.

With no way to stop them, Ruby, Joseph, and the blonde woman could only watch as the airborne vehicle flew off.

' _Damn,'_ Joseph thought before he shrugged his shoulders. _'Ah well, I doubt it'll be the last time I have a run in with those guys. Strange things always seem to be drawn to me.'_

"You… you're a huntress!" Joseph was then snapped out of his thoughts by Ruby's excited voice, who was currently fangirling over that blonde woman, who was apparently some kind of hunter. Although the Joestar figured that whatever kind of game she hunted was a bit more dangerous than any deer or bear.

...Maybe she hunted squirrels that were like the one Kars made from his left hand? A chill went through Joseph's spine when he thought about that little monster.

"Can I have your autograph!?" Ruby asked excitedly, but Joseph could only grimace in dread. While you could definitely call the muscular brunette a bit of an airhead, he was all too familiar with the expression this "huntress" had on her face. It was the type of look that Granny Erina gave him when he lost his temper, and things never ended very well for Joseph when she had that look on her face.

 ***SMACK* "OUUUUCH!** What was that for!?"

 _'Oooooh crap,'_ Joseph thought with dread when he saw the blonde huntress hit Ruby with her riding crop. She gave the young lady a stern glare before she looked towards Joseph with a similar expression. _' Oh c'mon! Can't you give me a break, god? I just saved your entire planet from a bunch of super vampire strippers. I should be expecting a parade in my honor, not shit like this!'_

"Okay, look lady," Joseph began hastily as the woman strode towards him. "I'm not sure why you're so pissed right now, but I'm sure that if you look deep inside yourself, you'll see that hitting me with that riding crop isn't nece-"

*SMACK*

"OW! YOU PSYCHOTIC DEVIANT!"

*SMACK*

"YEOWCH!"

"Address your elders with respect, young man. Didn't your mother ever teach you manners?" Glynda Goodwitch said sternly to the crouched over Joseph, who was now clutching the back of his head in pain.

* * *

"Young lady," Ms. Goodwitch began, the tone in her voice causing Ruby to look down in fear and shame. After everything that happened, the veteran huntress brought the young lady in front of her and the musclebound man she was with to the nearest police station for questioning. Although since they caught the entire event on film, this was really just an excuse to reprimand the two of them for their rash actions.

"I hope you're aware that your actions tonight were very reckless and dangerous." She continued, causing Ruby to whimper slightly and pull her hood over her head in shame. Narrowing her eyes, Glynda readied her riding crop and continued.

"If I had any say in the matter, I would send you home with a pat on the back…" She said, causing Ruby to look up hopefully.

"...And a slap on the wrist!" She finished, harshly bringing her riding crop down on the table, causing Ruby to yelp in surprise and fear.

"I-I'm sorry..." Ruby began, unable to look at Ms. Goodwitch in the face. " I just wanted to help, honest..." Her cold gaze remained on the the young girl for a moment before her expression softened and she let out a small sigh.

"That being said," She began, causing Ruby to perk her head up slightly. "while there was little thought put into your actions, you were still doing the right thing, and you DID stop the robbery. At the end of the day, your actions were commendable rather than foolhardy."The huntress complimented, causing her to look away once again, clearly embarrassed and flattered by the compliment.

"Hehe... thanks," Ruby said, a giddy feeling rising up in her chest. "That really means a lot coming from a huntress." Ms. Goodwitch could only smile slightly when she heard this before she continued.

"Now before I let you go home, an associate of mine would like to ask you a few questions. However, you may have to wait a few minutes, as he's currently-"

 _"OH! MY! GOOOOOD!"_

"-asking your friend a few questions." The huntress finished, sighing and pinching the bridge of her nose. Something told her that young man Ms. Rose was with was going to take up most of Ozpin's time.

* * *

"Mr. Joestar," Professor Ozpin began calmly, looking at Joseph, who happened to be in the middle of a panic attack. "I'm going to have to ask you to calm down, please. Panicking like this won't accomplish anything." Upon hearing this, the young Joestar gave the headmaster of Beacon an incredulous look.

"CALM DOWN!? If what you're saying is true, then I'm on _ANOTHER_ _GODDAMN PLANET,_ AND YOU'RE ASKING ME TO CALM DOWN!?" He demanded, slamming his palm down on the map of Remnant Ozpin had placed on the table between himself and Joseph.

"Yes, I am." He answered simply, taking a sip out of his coffee mug in the process.

.

.

.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Joseph said after a moment of silence, falling back into his chair. "I guess I just need a minute to think about all this crazy crap..." He sighed, running a hand through his dark brown locks.

 _'Well, that was easier than I thought.'_ Ozpin thought with amusement as he watched the Joestar try to recollect himself. After Glynda brought the young man in front of him as well as Ms. Rose into the station, the two of them were told to wait while they looked through the footage they caught of the both of them fighting.

To say the least, the two teenagers definitely caught Ozpin's eye, albeit for vastly different reasons. Ms. Rose was a rather straightforward case. The headmaster was amazed by her talent and potential at the age she was at. With the proper training, she would become a force to be reckoned with if she decided to become a huntress. Not only that, but her silver eyes were also factors that needed to be taken into account.

However, while he was certainly going to ask the young lady some questions about where she learned such impressive moves, the young, muscular man in front of him took precedence, and the reason for that was because of that strange electricity he emitted from his body during the all the fighting.

Never before had the headmaster of Beacon ever seen such a strange power. It didn't appear to be a semblance or aura, yet it was able to be used while fighting. When he asked about it, this man, Joseph Joestar, as he called himself, said it was an ancient form of martial art known as "the Ripple... or Hamon, or sendo." Quite frankly, the Joestar said he could call it whatever he wanted, he didn't freaking care.

During his explanation, Joseph explained that the Ripple was essentially a special breathing technique that could let one kill vampires and various other ghouls with the power of the sun. It was a rather abridged explanation, but he refused to explain further, claiming that for some strange reason, it wouldn't be relevant in the next 80 years. An oddly specific claim that the headmaster could only raise an eyebrow at.

Sadly, when Ozpin asked if one could learn how to use Hamon, Joseph explained that only one in a thousand had the potential to master the technique, and that he only gained the ability from his late grandfather, Jonathan Joestar.

After explaining the basic workings of the technique (that the user is basically punching people with the power of the sun), Joseph claimed that he had no idea where he was, which was where things got interesting.

Confused, but accommodating nonetheless, Ozpin told Joseph that he was in the city of Vale. He had expected that to be a good enough explanation for the young man, but was caught by surprise when he said he never heard of the city. He was even more surprised when the brunette remained confused after he explained that Vale was located on the continent of Vytal at that it was the capital of the country.

After realizing that something was very wrong with here, Ozpin asked where Joseph was from, to which the young man explained he was from a city called "New York" with pride clear in his voice. Having never heard of such a city in his entire life, he brought out a map of Remnant and asked Joseph to point it out for him.

After seeing the map, and after Ozpin repeatedly confirmed he wasn't playing a prank on him, Joseph subsequently freaked out. And then subsequently calmed down.

"So you didn't quite explain yourself very well," Ozpin began, his calm gaze still on the exhausted Joestar. "You kept saying you were in another world, what exactly do you mean, Joseph?" He asked, causing Joseph to sigh in exasperation.

"It means exactly what I said, pal! Look, it would take too long to explain it all right now, but before I passed out, well... I was... kind of... launched out of my planet's atmosphere. And look!" Joseph said quickly before Ozpin could open his mouth. "I know what I'm saying sounds insane, but it's the truth! I'm not sure if I somehow managed to sail through space and crash into this planet here, or if something else is at work here, but what I do know is that I've never seen a world map like this before in my entire life!"

"So... you're saying you're from another world?" Ozpin asked, taking what Joseph was telling him into consideration.

"Believe me, I get that it sounds stupid, but it's the only explanation I can think of. The fact that this place has tech decades beyond anything I've ever seen and a _**goddamn magic dominatrix**_ isn't helping me think otherwise, either."

For a moment, neither of them said anything. Joseph didn't have anything else to say and Ozpin just kept looking at him with an unreadable look in his eyes.

 _'God, it's like Esidisi all over again. I can't tell what this guy is thinking at all.'_ Joseph thought, thinking back to his encounter with the... emotional Pillar Man. However, just as the Joestar started to imagine Ozpin suddenly bawling out of nowhere, he spoke up.

"Alright, I believe you." He said simply, causing Joseph to nearly fall out of his seat in shock.

"W-WHAT!?"

"And I'd keep that dominatrix remark to yourself if I were you. May the Maidens help you if Glynda catches wind of it." Ozpin chuckled.

"Y-You're just gonna believe what I say with no proof!? Not that I'm complaining mind you, I'm just a little surprised." While it was certainly convenient that this guy was so willing to believe his story, Joseph couldn't help but be surprised that Ozpin would believe what he said without any proof. If somebody came up to _him_ and told him the same story, he would've just punched that person in the face for trying to feed him an asinine story like that. (Not that he could call it asinine now, mind you.)

"Believe me, Mr. Joestar. Once you see what Remnant has to offer, you'll realize that your claim is rather mild by comparison." When you'd seen what Professor Ozpin had seen, and done the things he had done, you'll realize what Joseph was telling him was rather tame compared to everything else on Remnant.

"Besides," The headmaster continued. "That Ripple technique of yours is proof enough. If we knew of a technique like that, there would certainly be more people using it to defend their homelands from the Grimm."

"Grimm? What the hell is a Grimm?" Joseph asked with confusion. Did he mean the Grimm fairy tales? He did never enjoy those stories granny Erina told him when he was little, they were a bit too dark for his tastes.

"Ah, that's right, you wouldn't know about them, would you? Well, to sum it up, the Grimm are soulless creatures that terrorize the people of Remnant with the sole purpose of destroying all of humanity and everything that's been built up to this point. I am the headmaster of an academy that trains talented youths to become hunters and huntresses, men and women that combat the Grimm." He explained to Joseph, giving him a brief explanation of the creatures that terrorize Remnant and the people who hunt them.

"Jesus Christ... can't say we got something like that back where I'm from..." Joseph muttered with shock, surprised that this planet was being plagued by such a serious threat. Sure, vampires were dangerous and all, but there weren't that many of them either. The Pillar Men were certainly more dangerous, but as far as he knew, there were only four of them in existence. "It's funny though, during my hamon training, my teacher, Lisa Lisa, told me that hamon was created during the dawn of man to protect mankind from the Pillar men and Vampires back where I'm from."

"Pillar men?" Ozpin repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh! Uh, yeah, they're kind of a long story. Probably better that we don't get into it right now, or we'll be here for hours." Joseph dismissed quickly before continuing. "Anyway, all things considered, Ripple users and hunters sound like they got a similar thing going on... Except for the whole "academy" thing. Yeah, last time I checked, there were no public schools that taught people how to punch vampires with the power of the sun. I guess there aren't enough vampires on Earth to warrant something like that being built." Once he finished his comparison, Joseph couldn't help but let out a deep sigh before looking up at the ceiling of the room. Ozpin didn't say anything, not wanting to interrupt the Joestar's thoughts and caught up in musings of his own. This Ripple technique had certainly given the headmaster a lot to think about.

" So," Joseph suddenly began, bringing Ozpin out of his musings. "What do you think I should do now?" He asked, looking at the headmaster once again.

"You mean you're asking me?" Ozpin asked, slightly surprised.

"Well who else CAN I ask?" Joseph answered, clearly annoyed. "If I'm actually right, then I'm stranded on another world I know hardly anything about with no way to get back home. I mean, I can't exactly _walk_ back to New York, now can I?"

"Yes… that doesn't leave you with many options now does it?" Ozpin agreed, already thinking about what could be done. However, after a moment's thought, a brilliant idea made it's way into his head.

"Mr. Joestar, if you don't mind me asking, just how old are you?" Ozpin asked, looking at Joseph thoughtfully.

"About 17, why?" Joseph answered, giving the grey-haired man an apprehensive look.

"Well, you see Joseph, while I don't have any way to get you back to your home, I just thought of a solution about where you can stay and learn more about Remnant in the meantime." Ozpin explained.

"You're next line's gonna be, **"What I'm trying to say is, how would you like to be a student at uh... Whateverthenameis Academy?"** Yup, that's the one." Joseph said in a disinterested tone.

"What I'm trying to say is, how would you like to-!" Ozpin stopped himself when he realized he was saying exactly what Joseph predicted he would say. "How did you do that…!?" He asked in an incredulous tone, causing a cocky smirk to spread across the brunette's face.

"Simple, I'm a genius, and as such, I was able to piece together your offer before you would even say it. It wasn't too hard, after all, you DID mention you were the headmaster of an academy and you DID come up with a solution to my whole predicament rather quickly." The Joestar answered, clearly enjoying the look of surprise on Ozpin's face. "That being said, I ain't a psychic, so I couldn't really give you the name of a school I don't know the name of."

' _So he thinks he's a genius, does he? Well, he's certainly got the ego of one.'_ Ozpin thought, a little annoyed Joseph was able to predict what he said so easily. "Well either way, my offer still stands, are you interested?" He asked getting back to the subject at hand. Upon hearing this, Joseph looked away for a moment, not sure what to say, before he answered.

"I'm not sure. I've never been too keen on going to school. Everything in class was so boring, and frankly, becoming a hunter sounds like it would take way too much effort on my part." He explained simply, putting his hands behind his head.

 _'...I think I know what I'm going to talk about during my speech to the freshmen this year:_ _ **wasted energy.'**_ Ozpin thought dryly as he looked as Joseph. He could tell just by looking that this young man had an amazing amount of potential to be an excellent warrior and hunter, but everything about him screamed a lack of caring and direction, reminding him of a lot of Beacon initiates who talked big, but were really just full of hot air.

"Granted, it's either this or live out on the streets, so screw it," Joseph said, extending his hand to Ozpin and giving him his iconic smile. "You've got yourself a new student, teach."

Ozpin could only look at the hand for a brief moment before he grasped it with his own.

"Well, try not to be too confident Mr. Joestar," Ozpin said, giving Joseph a rather cryptic smile. "It still remains to be seen if you'll even pass initiation."

"Eh, I'm sure I'll pass with flying colors. Anyway," Suddenly, the brunette pulled a sheet of paper seemingly out of nowhere and handed it to the startled headmaster.

"Uhm... I'm sorry, but what is all this...?" Ozpin asked as he began to look through the list.

"Oh, just stuff I'll need for my school year. I made that in case a something like this ever happened. _('He prepared for this!?')_ Anyway, it's mostly just some clothes I'll need along with some materials to make some custom weapons for my Hamon. The basic amenities" He explained, not noticing (or rather, not caring) the look of dread on Ozpin's face as he went through the list.

"...Is all this jewelry quite necessary...? It all seems rather... excessive." Ozpin asked as he felt a cold sweat run down his back. Beacon was quite the prestigious school, and they had a great amount of funds, but everything on this list seemed quite... expensive.

"Very much so! Wearing metallic and shining gear helps me conduct my Hamon quite well. I'd be at a serious disadvantage if I wasn't wearing any." Joseph said smoothly, and to be fair, it WAS technically the truth. Metal and jewels were great Ripple conductors. But in all honesty, none of this was the reason why the Joestar wanted so much jewelry. Just like his dear grandfather, Joseph Joestar inherited Jonathan Joestar's love of impossibly cool clothes and _fabulous_ jewelry.(1)

"I... see. Well, we can't have you at a disadvantage, now can we?" Ozpin chuckled nervously, already dreading how much of Beacon's funds he'd have to take out to purchase everything on this list.

 _'Why do I feel like I've made a terrible choice tonight?'_

* * *

 **(Elsewhere)**

While all of this was happening, something very sinister was stirring on another part of Remnant.

Deep within a castle that had been long forgotten by the rest of civilization, a figure obscured by shadow was sitting on the throne of this castle. He had been in a sound sleep on his throne until the red gem on his necklace began to glow, stirring him from his slumber.

"Hmm...? Well, this is a pleasant surprise." The figure said to himself, holding the glowing gem in his hand.

"After so many long years, it's finally begun. I had been waiting _oh so long_ for this, that I was beginning to doubt it would ever happen. But now..." As this man thought aloud, he got up from his throne and walked towards one of the castle's dark stained glass windows, looking out it and enjoying the distorted outside view.

"It would be best if I maintain a wait-and-see approach for now. I've waited so long for this, that it would be a shame if it all fell apart because I was too hasty. Still though…" The figure said to himself, as his right hand unconsciously went towards his left shoulder.

"I won't deny I can't wait to meet this new Joestar in person. What do _you_ think this relative of yours will be like… _**JoJo?**_ " The figured chuckled, looking forward to the coming times.

 **JoJo/RWBY database**

 **Ruby Rose's semblance**

 **STATS**

 **Destructive power: E**

 **Speed: A**

 **Range: A**

 **Durability: E**

 **precision: A**

 **Developmental potential: C**

 **When activated, Ruby's semblance allows her to go at a speed that makes her look as though she's teleporting to the naked eye. She can also use her semblance to create powerful whirlwinds when the need arises. Whenever Ruby activates her semblance, she leaves a trail of rose petals in her wake.**

* * *

 **(1) I'm referring to how practically every JoJo issue has a cover showing a Joestar wearing a crap ton of bling and jewelry. Jonathan was dressed up like a seventies gangster on issue four and he lived in** _ **victorian fucking london! I bet half the shit he was wearing didn't even exist in that time!**_ **I guess we know where Giorno got his desire to be a gangst- sorry, "gang-star" from...**

 **Anyways, I hope everybody gives me their thoughts on this story! If they have any ideas for it, please PM me and we can go on from there.**


	2. Chapter 2

**1/27/16: Aaaaand here we are! I made sure to remove all the japanese from this chapter (Except SEKAIICHI because no) and I ironed out any errors I found as well. If you were wondering why this chapter took so long to revise compared to the others, it's because I spent the last two weeks binging on DMC4:SE. With that in mind, let me just say a few things: Legendary Dark Knight mode is the shit, I managed to beat the game on Nero/Dante Must Die, and I'm now feeling the shameful urge to make a self indulgent DMC and RWBY harem crossover starring DMC3!Dante and Nero. But, like with my other stories, I wanna get to a good stopping point in this beauty before I focus on any of that. *sigh* God forgive me...**

 **And here is the 2nd chapter of the story! I just want to say thank you to everybody who reviewed, favorited, and liked. It was pretty awesome to get such great reception for the first chapter. Also, if any of the characters are acting OOC, please let me know. I think I managed to get Joseph's personality right, but you never know, and I'm not as big a fan of RWBY as I am of JoJo, so let me know if I made any mistakes regarding lore or personality. BUT ENOUGH OF THIS TEDIOUS BULLSHIT! TIME FOR THE ACTUAL STORY!**

 **Disclaimer: lolrus555 owns neither JoJo's Bizarre Adventure or RWBY. They belong to Hirohiko Araki (The one TRUE Pillar man) and Rooster Teeth. I own neither, but I'm sure you already knew that.**

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"...notorious criminal..."

 _Aghhh... five more minutes granny Erina, I'm still sleepy..._

"-any information on his whereabouts, please contact-"

"Gahh... alright, fine, I'm up..." Joseph groaned as he forced himself up, cracking his neck. It took him a moment to get the drowsiness out of his system before he realized that he wasn't back home in New York.

"Huh? Where the hell am I? Is this some sort of a train station or something?" The brunette asked himself as he got into a sitting position on the bench he was sleeping on. From what Joseph could tell, he appeared to be in some big grey building filled with various people that looked to be around his age. It took the young Joestar another moment before the memories of the previous night came flooding back to him.

"Oh yeah, that's right. This is some big, fancy airplane that's gonna take me to that academy." Joseph thought aloud as he leaned back into the bench, trying to relax. After agreeing to attend Beacon Academy, the two previous days before the beginning of the school year were spent getting his supplies. Once that was taken care of, Ozpin directed him to the airship that was to take all initiates to Beacon. With nothing better to do, the Joestar decided to just nap the entire trip.

As Joseph was lost in his musings, the sight of a holographic projection near the window of the airship brought him back to reality. It was essentially a projection of that kinky Goodwitch lady giving all the students a welcome to Beacon, or something along those lines. He was too busy just thinking about the technology of this world to care about what she was saying.

 _'It's just crazy though. So far, everything this world has to offer blows away anything I've ever seen on Earth. It's like I'm in the future. Well, I can definitely see Stroheim having a freak-out if he ever saw any of this.'_ As Joseph pictured the Nazi major having a panic attack upon realizing German science was no longer "SEKAIICHI" as he so eloquently put it, the airship finally reached it's destination.

Once Joseph took note of the airship landing and the various people heading towards the exit, he got up, stretched, grabbed his bags and followed the various students and initiates out of the airship.

 _'Alright Beacon Academy,'_ Joseph thought, a cocky smirk on his face _. 'Let's see what you've got in store for me.'_

* * *

"Man! This place looks more like a castle than a school!" Joseph said aloud, amazed by Beacon Academy's structure. Considering everything he had seen in this world had been so futuristic, he expected the academy to look something like the Fortress Of Solitude, but instead, he was greeted with a gigantic castle the size of a skyscraper!

"Well, if I had to guess, this school must've been around for a while. That WOULD explain the architecture and why it's not up to date with everything else. " Joseph said to himself as he deduced why the school's design was such a heavy contrast to all the technology he'd seen so far. Either way, he decided to just forget about Beacon's design for now and follow the rest of the initiates to... wherever the hell he was supposed to be going.

 ***BOOM***

However, before he got much further, the sound of an explosion caught his attention. From what Joseph could tell, the explosion came further up ahead the pathway leading to Beacon, and when moved a bit further to investigate, he came across a rather strange sight.

"Unbelievable! This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about!"

Two girls seemed to have been having an argument over some dropped luggage. Or to be more specific, a girl with a white ponytail and expensive looking clothes was angrily yelling at a kneeled over girl in black and red, who currently looked like a kicked puppy if you asked Joseph.

"I'm really, _really_ sorry!" The girl whimpered out, trying to make amends and failing miserably.

 _'Now that I think of it, that girl looks pretty familiar. Have I ran into her before?'_ Joseph thought, trying to recall a scenario where he might've ran into the girl in black and red.

 ***Clink*** "hmm?"

However, before Joseph could think about it any further, he noticed he accidentally touched something with his foot. After kneeling down to take a closer look, he noticed it was a bright-yellow crystal.

 _'Man... what a beautiful stone. What was this thing doing in her luggage?_ ' The brunette thought as he brought the crystal up to his face, examining how nicely cut it was. It took him another moment before he realized what the stone was.

"Huh, guess this is one of those dust crystals I've heard so much about." As he said this, an idea made it's way into Joseph's head, which subsequently caused a devious smirk to spread across his face.

"Welllll, I guess now's as good a time as any to see if these things are Hamon-conductive." The Joestar said, already starting to channel Hamon into the Dust crystal.

"Whatever you're planning to do to that Dust crystal seems dangerous, you might want to stop." A voice suddenly spoke up, breaking the brunette's concentration. Upon looking to his right, he saw a girl looking at him with analytical eyes.

The girl in question was actually very pretty, having long, flowing black hair that went down to her waist along with a sharp, mature, and pretty face with strikingly yellow eyes, of all colors. The girl's wardrobe consisted of black stockings, a matching corset, and a matching set of white shorts with a white crop top. She was also wearing a black bow which looked quite good on her.

The girl also seemed to be taking a look at Joseph's current wardrobe before raising an eyebrow at him. Currently, the Joestar was wearing a pair of dark blue jeans with boots along with a dark purple crop top which was doing a good job of showing off his abs. He was also wearing a brand new scarf identical to the one he lost in his fight with Kars, which was also covering the necklace he wore that was housing the red stone of Aja, one of the only things Joseph had on him when he woke up in Vale.

"Ah, you worry too much gorgeous!" Joseph reassured heartily, giving the girl his best lady-killer smile. "Civilization would never have gotten anywhere if nobody was willing to experiment. The way I see it, I'm doing the entire world a big favor right now!" As the muscular brunette said this, he continued to channel Hamon into the Dust crystal.

"Alright, don't say I didn't warn you." The girl sighed as she took a few steps backwards, waiting for the crystal to blow up in Joseph's face. At the point, the girl with the white hair finally took note of Joseph holding one of her dust crystals.

"Hey! Were you even listening to word I was saying to that clutz behind me!? I don't want anybody else putting their hands on my dust!" However before the girl could attempt to snatch the crystal away from Joseph's grasp, the Hamon energy, which had been dancing over the stone, seemed to have triggered something in the dust crystal. Suddenly, the crystal began to glow brightly, surprising Joseph, Weiss, Ruby, and even catching Blake's eye.

 ***PHWEEM***

"Wh-!? The hell!?" Joseph yelped as the lightning crystal suddenly began to exude a bright light that temporarily blinded him. The light from the dust crystal shone for another moment before it began to flicker and then blew up in the Joestar's hand out of nowhere, with the resulting explosion causing a surprisingly large amount of smoke. The entire situation seemed rather comical, really.

"ARRGH!"

However, what the girls saw when the smoke cleared up was anything but comical.

"M-My... MY HAND...!" He yelled out in agony, tightly clutching onto his right hand, or rather, what was left of it. When the smoke from the explosion cleared up, Blake, Weiss and Ruby were horrified to see Joseph clutching desperately onto a stump where his right hand used to be, the explosion from the dust crystal apparently blowing the poor guy's hand off. Their reactions to his severed hand was as followed:

Ruby: OHDEARDUSTHELOSTHISHANDWHATDOWEDOGUYS!?

Weiss: THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I WAS TRYING TO PREVENT YOU BUFFOON, WHY DIDN'T YOU TWO IDIOTS JUST LISTEN TO ME WHEN I TOLD YOU BOTH TO STOP MESSING WITH MY DUST!? OH WHY'D THIS HAVE TO HAPPEN TO _ME!?_ AND ON MY FIRST DAY AT BEACON TOO!

Blake: SOMEBODY GET SOME HELP! THIS MAN'S IN URGENT NEED OF MEDICAL ATTENTION!

...is perfectly fine!" Joseph finished offhandedly, causing the three girls to freeze during their respective freak outs before looking towards him slowly. When he saw that all eyes were on him, the trickster of the Joestar family brought his "stump" in front of the girls and surprised all of them when his balled up fist suddenly popped out of the wrappings around his forearm.

"That was just a little joke of mine. I just pulled my fist into my sleeve at the last second, see?" As an explanation for what he did, Joseph brought his hands in front of the girls and made it look like he was removing his thumb. A little trick the Joestar was quite proud of.

For a very brief moment, none of the girls could do a thing. They were just too shocked and the sheer absurdity of the guy in front of them that they were rendered speechless for an ever so brief moment. However, once their wits returned to them, the following happened.

The girl in black and red practically deflated to her knees in relief.

The girl with the long black hair started shaking before she covered her mouth and made a beeline towards Beacon.

And the girl with the white hair proceeded to scream down Joseph's ear.

"A JOKE!? THAT'S YOUR DEFINITION OF A JOKE!? AND WHAT FUCKING SLEEVE!? YOU'RE WEARING A FREAKING CROP TOP!" The girl looked as though she had more to say, but before she continued, she took a deep breath, clearly trying to calm down, before glaring at both Joseph and the girl, who was still slumped on her knees.

"Why don't the two of you get your acts together? There are people who came to this school to learn, not to deal with idiots like you, got it!?" She said with a huff before she continued towards Beacon, the trolley carrying all of her bags in tow and leaving Joseph alone with the still slumped over girl.

"God, what a freaking harpy." Joseph groaned as he rubbed his ears. "She needs to learn how to take a joke, am I right?" He asked the girl in black, only to get no response. Looking towards her, the Joestar saw that she was still in a daze from what happened.

"Huh? Hey, you listening? I'll have you know that it's rude to say nothing when people are talking to you." Joseph said, knocking on the girl's head with his knuckles to try and get some kind of response from her. "Oi! C'mon! Say something! Knock knock! Anybody home?" That seemed to have gotten the girl out of her stupor, if the look of surprise on her face was any indication.

"Oh! Heh... sorry for zoning out like that. Everything today has been happening at once, and well... it's just a lot to take in." She began, shyness clear in her voice. In response, Joseph could only let a cocky smirk spread across his face before he offered her a hand.

"You just gotta take it all in stride! that's how I've managed." The girl seemed to be listening to this intently as she took Joseph's hand.

"Huh, I'll have to keep that in mind." She said to herself. She looked as though she was about to say something else, but stopped herself when she took a good look at Joseph.

"Wait a second! You're the guy I saw at the Dust store robbery! Since you're here, that means you're attending Beacon too, right!?" The girl asked, surprise all too clear in her voice. It took Joseph a moment before he recognized the girl in front of him.

"OH SHIT! I remember now! You were that girl with the crazy rifle scythe! Quite the coincidence, running into you here, but then again, I'm not too surprised. Bizarre people like us are often drawn to each other." He remarked, thinking of all the strange people he met on his adventures.

"Bizarre? Hey! I'll have you know it's perfectly reasonable for a girl my age to have a passion for high-grade weaponry and kicking butt in general." The girl huffed indignantly, causing the brunette to raise his hands in surrender.

"Don't get so defensive kid, it was a compliment. Bizarre doesn't inherently mean bad! Take that weapon of yours as an example." Joseph began, pointing at what looked like the girl's scythe rifle. "Back where I'm from, I've never seen a weapon like yours before. By every stretch of the word, it's bizarre, but it's also an amazingly well-designed and impressive weapon, and that's pretty much what bizarre means. Something that's very strange and unusual, but also great to be around." He finished, giving the girl a good-natured smile.

"Huh... can't say I've ever thought of it like that..." The girl muttered, giving what Joseph said some thought. After another moment, she looked towards the Joestar once again with curiosity in her eyes.

"Y'know, now that I think of it, I didn't get a chance to hear your name before Ms. Goodwitch started hitting us. What is it?" Upon hearing this, Joseph's good natured smile turned into a cocky smirk as he began to put his arms behind his head in what seemed to be some type of _pose_ , of all things. The girl couldn't help but note, with a small blush rising onto her face, that this pose did a good job of showing off the Joestar's... pronounced abs, which were exposed by his dark-purple crop top.

"The name's Joestar. Joseph Joestar. And I must say I'm damned pleased to meet you, Miss...?"

"Ruby Rose. Soon to be huntress and overall weapons enthusiast." The silver eyed girl introduced herself happily puffing up her chest in an attempt to appear dignified.

"Well, good to actually be on a name basis with you now. Anyway, do you have any idea about where we should be going...?" Joseph asked, only now realizing that he and Ruby were the only ones in the area now, all the other students and initiates likely having already gone to where they needed to go.

"Oh! Well, I was just following everybody else, so... no." The black and red clad girl admitted lamely.

"Well, no big deal. We can just ask that blonde guy up ahead for some directions." The Joestar assured her, pointing to the boy with short blonde further ahead of them.

"Oh hey! I know who that is! He's the guy who threw up on my sister's shoes."

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"...I... don't need to be concerned, do I?"

"...well... it might be a good idea to keep a safe distance."

* * *

"Look, all I'm saying is that motion sickness is a real problem. That's all!" Jaune Arc said as he explained how he was easily susceptible to motion sickness. After Joseph and Ruby had introduced themselves to the blonde knight, the three had hit it off surprisingly well. They were now walking through a pathway inside Beacon's walls, hoping to find where all the other initiates had gone.

"Well why didn't you just skip out on breakfast if you were gonna come here by airship?! You kinda dug that hole yourself, bud." Joseph remarked dryly, making sure to keep a safe distance.

"What do you expect!? That was my first time on an airship!" Jaune argued, embarrassment clear in his voice.

"So... moving on from the topic of bile, I got this thing!" Ruby said, showing off Crescent Rose in an attempt to change the subject.

"Whoa! Is that a scythe?" The blonde asked, not expecting the petite girl in front of him to pull out such an elaborate-looking weapon. "H'yup. It's also a customizable high-impact sniper rifle!" Ruby explained, pride clear in her voice. It was just a shame that everything she said was lost on Jaune.

"Uhhh... neat?"

"It also fires bullets, man." Joseph interjected.

"Oh! That's cool!" Jaune complimented, causing Ruby to puff her chest in pride. "Thanks! So what do you have?" The scythe wielder asked, causing the blonde to start fumbling with the sword at his side.

"O-Oh, well... I got this sword!" Jaune began hastily pulling out the sword. From what Joseph could see, the blade was simple in design, but also appeared to be very well made and built to last.

"Ohhhh!" Ruby exclaimed, able to appreciate weapons in all their forms, no matter how they're made.

"Yeah, and I've got a shield, too!" He continued, holding up his sheath. In the blink of an eye, the sheath quickly transformed into a bright white shield with a gold-colored symbol in the center. Although Jaune, being Jaune, had to fumble around with it for a moment to make sure he didn't drop it while it transformed.

"So, what do they do?" Ruby asked, running her fingers down the front of the shield, feeling it's metallic texture. "Well... the shield gets smaller, so when I get tired of carrying it, I can just... put it away..." Jaune finished lamely, hoping his explanation would suffice.

"But... wouldn't it weigh the same?" Ruby asked, cocking her head to the left slightly.

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"Yeah, it does..." He admitted after a moment's pause, sighing dejectedly.

"Well, just look at it like this, pal!" Joseph said consolingly, slamming his palm into the scraggly young man's back. "Sure, it's not the most colorful weapon around, but it least you're hands won't be full when you're not using it. And besides! I won't bore you with the details, but the past few months have taught me how to improvise like a politician without a planned speech. If I can use a pigeon to incapacitate somebody, then I have no doubt you can use that sword like it's a lethal weapon. You just gotta be aware of your surroundings and use everything to your advantage, got it?" He explained to Jaune, who was slouched over after that unexpectedly powerful blow to his back.

"Ugh, yeah, crystal clear." Jaune groaned out, taking Joseph's hand and getting up. Pleased with his speech, the musuclar brunette was about to continue forward when he noticed his two new friends were staring at him with curiosity and anticipation in both their eyes, especially Ruby's.

"...What? are we looking at my subconscious now?" The Joestar asked, getting a little put off by the stares they were giving him.

"C'mon! We showed off our weapons, it's only fair you do too!" Ruby explained, looking forward to seeing whatever crazy weapon Joseph might have up his sleeve. "Yeah, I won't deny I'm kinda curious about what kind of weapon a big guy like you would use. Especially after hearing that pidgeon comment." Jaune admitted. Hearing this brought a smirk to the brunette's face.

"So, you two both want to know what kind of tricks Joseph Joestar has up his sleeves, huh? Well, I was gonna wait until the entrance exams so I could show off in front of everybody, buuuut, I guess it couldn't hurt to give you guys a sneak peek." Joseph began, reaching behind his back for his signature weapons.

"So prepare yourselves... FOR THE JOSEPH JOESTAR CLACKER VOLLEY!" In one fell swoop, Joseph pulled his hands out from behind his back, revealing a new set of Hamon clackers to replace the ones Wired Beck destroyed. The clackers were identical to Joseph's old pair, with a J on each steel ball. Joseph then closed his eyes and smiled, expecting amazement and fanfare to his specially designed weapons.

"Hmm. Bolas, that's neat."

"Uhh... what's a clacker? Is that a toy or something?"

Sadly, Ruby and Jaune's reactions were underwhelming, to say the least.

"WHAAAT?! That's really all the both of you have to say!? I'll have you know I spent all day yesterday working on these things!" Joseph yelled indignantly. "Okay, well how about you show us how they work? I'm sure we'll be amazed after we see them in action." This comment, however, brought the smirk back to the cocky Joestar's face.

"Now we're talking. You guys will be singing a different tune once you both see these babies in action! First, I apply a little 'something something' to these clackers. Like this." As Joseph was saying this, he began to surge Hamon energy into the clackers, causing a yellow electricity to dance through the repurposed toys. Because of this, the steel balls, which had been rhythmically and gently bouncing against each other, began to steadily increase in speed. In no time at all, both clackers were now rapidly bouncing around at a breakneck speed, causing Jaune to back away in shock and slight fear, and Ruby to inch slightly closer, amazed by what she was seeing.

"WATAH~~!" Joseph yelled out, getting into mock kung-fu stance...

...which in turn caused to clackers in his right hand to slip out of his grasp and go speeding towards Jaune.

"GAAAH!" Jaune screamed in fear, quickly ducking his head. This proved to a wise action as the speeding clackers barely missed the young man and then crashed into the pillar behind him.

After that little incident, a rather awkward silence filled the air, with nobody really willing to comment on the fact that Joseph nearly killed Jaune. It was only Joseph's nervous chuckle that finally broke the silence.

"...Well, you guys get the basic idea. And believe me! Once you see them breaking some monster skull, you guys will think my clacker volley will be the hottest thing around! But uh... anyway, you okay there, Jauney boy?" Joseph asked as he extended his hand for the blonde knight to take. Groaning, Jaune took the hand to hoist himself back up before he spoke up.

"Well, that thing didn't cave my skull in, so yeah, I'd say I'm okay. But what the hell was that electricity on those things?! I've never seen anything like that before in my life!" Jaune asked, confused by Joseph's Hamon.

"That was your semblance, right? So does that mean your power is overcharging something with electricity?" Ruby asked, thinking the Hamon was just some type of Semblance.

"Semblance? Whazzat?" Joseph and Jaune simultaneously asked, an oblivious look on both their faces.

"Wait...? You guys don't know about semblances?" Ruby asked, although the clueless look on their faces pretty much confirmed her suspicions.

"Well, a semblance is... how do I put this? It's basically...a dormant ability inside you that can let you do reality defying things. Like this!" Suddenly, everything happened at once. In the next second, Ruby suddenly disappeared from their site, leaving only a trail of rose petals in her stead.

"Woah! Where'd she go?!" Jaune exclaimed, confused by what he just saw.

"Up here guys!" Ruby suddenly called out, her voice seemingly above them. Looking upwards, Joseph was surprised to see Ruby casually sitting on one of the pillars located around the inner walls, more of the rose petals from before falling around her.

"The hell!? How the hell did you get up there so quickly!? Does this 'Semblance' of yours stop time or something?" Joseph demanded, bewildered by Ruby's sudden teleportation.

"No, my semblance just lets me move at a speed that makes it look like I'm teleporting to the naked eye." Ruby explained pridefully, clearly happy with her abilities.

"It also leaves behind these rose petals that look _really_ nice, if I do say so myself." She added as an afterthought before she jumped down from the pillar and landed in front of Joseph and Jaune gracefully.

"Huh, fascinating. Well, to answer your question, no, that energy wasn't a semblance. But before you ask, I'm gonna save the explanation for another day. Can't reveal all my tricks at once, now can I?" Joseph asked rhetorically before he continued.

"Anyway, while you were up there, did you see where all the other students went? I'm kinda getting sick of walking around like this with no directions." Joseph asked Ruby. So far, they'd been walking for 5 minutes and still hadn't found where all the other students went.

"No, but I wasn't really looking. I'll just check again." And in the blink of an eye, Ruby was back on top of the pillar and using the high ground to look around the area.

"Say! While you're up there, could you also look for a food court? I'm kinda getting a bit hungry." Jaune asked after a moment's thought.

"Heh, I'm guessing you need to refill your stomach after losing your breakfast, huh?" Joseph asked jokingly, causing Jaune to groan in annoyance.

"Can we please move on from that?"

 **And another chapter out of the way! Now here's a little FYI for all of you. Basically, I've had these chapters in the works for a while. The reason why I haven't been able to upload them until now is because my old computer (which is a hunk of shite) crapped out on me for the last time. I'll try and update frequently, but I can assure you that chapters won't be a daily thing, sorry to say. Anyway, if you have anything you'd like to say to me about this story, leave a review or PM me about it, I really am curious and am open to criticism. Anyway, seeya!**


	3. Chapter 3

**(Revised 6/22/16)**

 **Another new chapter for all your viewing pleasure! I personally think that things are gonna start picking up after this chapter. But anyway, enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: lolrus555 owns neither JoJo's Bizarre Adventure or RWBY. They belong to Hiriko Araki and Rooster Teeth respectively,**

 **Joseph Joestar: Hamon Hunter**

"Well, this looks like the place." Joseph remarked as he, Ruby, and Jaune made their way into a large amphitheater filled with various teenagers. It seemed that all the Beacon initiates were to come here for some sort of introductory speech.

"Ruby! Over here! I saved you a spot!" A voice called out, bringing their attention to it's owner. A girl who apparently knew Ruby could be seen waving towards her in the middle of a row of students. The girl in question was actually _very attractive_ , in Joseph's opinion. While Ruby was attractive in the cute sense, this girl was more attractive in the "mature" sense, so to say. She had long, bright yellow hair that went down to the small of her back along with a pair of bright lavender eyes which was all topped off the carefree and playful demeanor she seemed to exude.

Moving on from her features, the girl had a wardrobe that could give Joseph a run for his money in the provocative department. She was wearing a dark brown jacket that went down to her waist and exposed a bright yellow tube top that was doing a good job of showing off her… prominent assets. Along with this, she was also wearing a pair of black short shorts which were all topped off by a pair of knee-high boots. To sum it all up, the outfit did a good job of showing off a lot of skin and accentuated her curvy figure. Ruby seemed to have known the girl, if the look of recognition on her face was any indication.

"Oh! Hey, I-I gotta go guys! That's my sister. See you both after the ceremony!" Ruby explained quickly before she ran off to join the girl. Joseph merely gave a nod of his head in response, but Jaune seemed a bit more disappointed at the silver-eyed girl's departure.

"Ah, that's just great…" Jaune sighed. "Now where am I gonna find another nice, quirky girl to talk to?"

"What? Am I not good enough for you?" Joseph asked jokingly as they too began to look for free seats.

"Uh... right. No offense Joseph, but I wouldn't really call a guy like you very feminine." Jaune deadpanned, more than a little disturbed at the idea of his large, muscular, acquaintance acting like a cute, quirky girl.

"WHAAAAT?! That's the second time I've had my self esteem hurt by men! I'll have you know I can be super cute if I want to be!"

"Yeaaah… do you think you could define "Super Cute" for me, please?"

As the two of them continued their rather disturbing argument on whether or not Joseph could be even slightly feminine, neither of them noticed the red-haired girl in a gladiatorial outfit looking at the two of them, specifically Jaune.

* * *

As Ruby walked up to her sister, she was determined to give Yang a piece of her mind about abandoning her to go hang out with a bunch of "friends" that she'd never seen before in her life. What kind of big sister leaves their adorable, socially awkward little sister in the middle of a school they've never been to before to fend for themselves!? Granted, the experience HAD left her acquainted with Joseph and Jaune, but that was besides the point! And so, once she made it to the seat next to her, the wielder of Crescent Rose made a big deal of crossing her arms and looking away from Yang as she sat down.

"Just so you know, I'm still mad at you about abandoning meeEEEE!?"

However, before Ruby could even finish that sentence properly, she was suddenly pulled into a bone-crushing hug by one ecstatic blonde. Which in addition to nearly strangling her, was also forcing her into Yang's large breasts, adding suffocation to her list of immediate concerns.

"OH, I KNEW YOU'D DO JUST FINE ON YOUR OWN LITTLE SIS! I'M SO PROUD OF YOU!" Yang said gleefully as she hugged the poor girl even tighter.

"What… what are you even talking about…?" Ruby choked out as she began to feel her vision fade. Fortunately, Yang finally took note of the lack of color on her dear sister's face and quickly released her, allowing Ruby to take in some gasps of precious air.

"Heh… sorry about that sis, I kinda forgot about my strength for a minute there." Yang chuckled, an apologetic tone in her voice as she scratched the back of her head.

"Please... don't let it happen again." Ruby managed weakly before she went back to the topic at hand. "So uh... what were you talking about? Something about being proud of me?" Upon hearing this, Yang's happy demeanor immediately returned as she responded.

"What do you think I'm talking about?" Yang asked rhetorically as she put an arm around Ruby's shoulders, this time being far more mindful of her strength. "When I left you at the pathway earlier, you acted like you couldn't talk to a single person without me around!"

"Yeah, I'm still mad at you for abandoning me there, by the way…" Ruby muttered, although Yang either didn't hear or just ignored her before continuing.

"And next thing I know, you're walking into the amphitheater with a guy on each arm! I knew you'd do just fine on your own, sis! And talk about a nice catch too." Suddenly, a knowing expression graced Yang's face as she looked towards Joseph and Jaune, who had since taken their seats in the amphitheater.

"So anyway, when you get the chance, you mind introducing me to your friend?" Yang asked, a mesmerized look on her face.

"Well, which one?" Ruby asked, more than a little confused with Yang's behavior.

"Y'know! The… The… tall one." Yang distractedly explained, although this didn't really help clear anything up for Ruby.

"They're both pretty tall Yang, could you be a bit more specific?" Ruby asked, raising an eyebrow at her sister's odd behavior.

"C'mon Ruby! I'm talking about the one with all the big-" "YOU!" Before Yang could finish her explanation, however, an angry voice suddenly interrupted her. Ruby, instantly recognizing the angry voice, did the first thing that came to mind, which was jumping into her big sister's arms for protection.

"OH GOD IT'S THE GIRL I BLEW UP IN FRONT OF, PROTECT ME YANG!" Ruby yelled/whimpered, tightly hugging Yang in fear.

"You're lucky we weren't blown off the cliff!" The white-haired girl said angrily, causing Ruby to cower even more in guilt and fear.

"Wait, what's all this about exploding?" Yang asked, locked out of the loop. "I didn't mean to! It just kinda happened!" Ruby defended herself hastily when the girl suddenly forced two pamphlets into Ruby's hands.

"Huh? What's this?" Ruby asked. Both the pamphlets were titled _"DUST for dummies and other Inadequate Individuals"_ and went into the details of dust and the proper safety precautions when using the substance.

"The Schnee Dust Company is not responsibleforanyinjuriesordamagessustainedwhile _blahblahblahblahblahblahblah."_ The girl recited, explaining various companies and mottos which all fell dead upon Ruby's ears, who only heard a sped up garble of words. Once the girl finished her rant, Ruby responded in the only way she could in this situation.

"Uhhh…" Came Ruby's eloquent response, causing the girl to raise an eyebrow at her.

"Do you really want to make what happened up to me?" She asked, causing Ruby to frantically nod her head in response. "Absolutely!"

"Then read one of those pamphlets, give the other to that beefy idiot from before, and never talk to me again. Got it?" The girl demanded, narrowing her eyes at Ruby. At this point, Yang decided to finally intervene in the conversation.

"Look, uh, it sounds like you two just got off on the wrong foot. Why don't you start over and try to be friends, okay?" She proposed, trying to help her sister out of the hole she apparently dug herself into.

"Yeah! Great idea sis!" Ruby agreed before she looked back towards the white-haired girl, putting on her best smile in the process. "Hello there!... uh…?" However, before she could get any further in her attempt to "start over," Ruby realized that she didn't even know this girl's name.

"Weiss Schnee." The girl introduced herself flatly. "Y'know, the heiress of the _Schnee Dust Company?"_ She elaborated, putting emphasis on the fact that she was the heiress to one of the biggest dust distributing companies on Remnant.

"O-Oh? Really? W-Well, anyway, I was wondering if after the ceremony, we could go… hang out? Maybe go shopping for school supplies together…?" Ruby asked, stumbling over her words after hearing that Weiss was such an important person.

"Oh yeah!" Weiss exclaimed, mock enthusiasm in her voice. "And after that, we can paint our nails, and try on clothes, or maybe even talk about cute boys, like tall, buff, and stupid over there!" She said, motioning towards Joseph, who fortunately for Weiss, didn't realize she was talking about him.

"Wow, really!?" Ruby asked, blind to Weiss' sarcasm. "No." The heiress retorted immediately, severely bruising the girl's self-esteem. However, before Ruby could make any attempt to salvage the rapidly crumbling conversation, the sound of a microphone being prepped brought the girls' attention to the stage, where Professor Ozpin was standing with Ms. Goodwitch beside him. The headmaster of Beacon made sure the microphone was working properly before he began his speech.

" _ **I'll… keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people."**_ Once Ozpin said this, however, his gaze on the rest of the students began to grow cold and analytical. _**"But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction. A sense of direction I believe**_ _ **some of you**_ _ **here need more than others."**_ Ruby noted that Ozpin seemed to have been looking towards Jaune and Joseph specifically as he said this, although she couldn't understand why. The headmaster kept his gaze on the increasingly uncomfortable brunette for another moment before he continued.

" _ **You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."**_ And with that, the enigmatic headmaster of Beacon academy took his leave, allowing Ms. Goodwitch to take it from there.

" _ **You will gather in the ballrooms tonight, tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed."**_ And with that, the stern teacher took her leave as well, leaving the students to go about their business and the initiates to retire to the ballroom.

"Hey, was it me, or did he seem kind of… off?" Ruby asked, a little off-put by the lack of emotion in Ozpin's voice.

"Yeah," Yang agreed. "It's almost like he wasn't even there."

"Well, he has to give a speech to the initiates every year, I can imagine it becomes quite the monotonous experience." And with that, Weiss took her leave and left for the ballroom with the rest of the initiates.

"Hey, wait!" Ruby called after the departing girl, still wanting to make amends for what happened at the pathway. "Are you sure you don't want to… hang out…?" Sadly, her pleas fell upon deaf ears as Weiss just ignored her and continued on her way, leaving Ruby alone with her sister.

"Ah man… what a way to start the school year." Ruby lamented, cursing her terrible people-skills.

"Don't worry about it, little sis," Yang consoled, placing a reassuring hand on Ruby's shoulder. "if you ask me, she seemed like a bit of a snob."

* * *

 **(Later that evening)**

"Woo!" Yang whooped happily as she flopped onto her sleeping bag next to Ruby, who was in the middle of writing some kind of letter. "This is great! It's like one big slumber party." Since the teams that were to be assigned for the rest of the school year hadn't been decided yet, all of the Beacon initiates all had to spend the night in the Ballroom. There was no real order to the sleeping arrangements, but for the most part, the boys and girls had separated to opposite sides of the ballroom.

"I'm not sure dad would approve of all the boys, though." Ruby noted, still not looking up from the letter she was writing.

"Well, I know **I** do!" Yang said, letting out a perverted purr at all the shirtless, muscled guys who were currently showboating in an attempt to impress the girls. Her purring, however, then turned to a unsettled groan when she saw Jaune confidently stroll past the boys dressed in… red footie pajamas.

"Urgh… anyway, what're you writing?" Yang asked, trying to change the subject so she could forget what she just saw.

"Oh, just a letter to the gang back at Signal. I promised to tell them all about Beacon and how things are going." Ruby explained, making sure to check the letter for any spelling errors.

"Aw, that's so **cuuuute!"** Yang squeed!

 _ ***WHUMP!***_

...only to get a pillow to the face in response, courtesy of her irate little sister.

"Shut up!" Ruby retorted indignantly. "I didn't get to take my friends with me to school! It's weird not knowing anyone here!"

"Oh come on! It's not that bad! Last time I checked, you came into the amphitheater with two new…. new…." Yang began to trail off, seemingly getting distracted by something.

"Yang? Yang! What's wrong?" Ruby asked, turning to her sister to see what was wrong, but she got the answer as soon as she looked where Yang was looking.

"Ah, hey there Ruby! Nice to see ya!"

Standing in front of the two sisters, was a jovial Joseph Joestar, who was currently dressed up in his evening wear.

The reason why Yang was so distracted was because Joseph's pajamas didn't leave much to the imagination. Currently, the wild card of the Joestar family was wearing a long-sleeved button up pajama shirt. The shirt's design consisted of a bunch of stars of varying colors plastered everywhere. The shirt was also completely unbuttoned, which meant there was nothing covering up Joseph's prominent abs or sculpted chest. As for the lower region, the young man was currently wearing a pair of boxer shorts that had the words _**'JOJO'**_ repeating horizontally through the garment. **(1)**

To say Yang liked what she saw right now would be a _**bit**_ of an understatement.

"Huh? Hey Ruby, this is your sister, right? What the hell's wrong with her?" Joseph asked, getting a little unsettled by the blonde girl's intense staring.

"Oh geeze! Yang?"

"...abs…"

"Yang!"

"...muscles…"

"Yang, please!"

"...handsome…"

"YANG, FOR DUSTS' SAKE! YOUR NOSE IS BLEEDING!" Ruby exclaimed, shoving a pillow into her perverted sister's face in shame.

"oh… huh? What happened…?" Yang asked dazedly, finally coming back to her senses.

"Well, to be frank, you started drooling the minute you saw me. It was kinda flattering, if we're gonna be honest." Joseph said cheekily, rather amused by what he just witnessed.

"I was!? Oh god, I'm sorry about that!" Yang apologized hastily, wiping the blood off her face. "You just have a very… pronounced figure, that's all." Joseph's cheeky grin only broadened when he heard this and saw the small blush on the girl's face.

"Ah, don't worry about it good looking! But next time you look, I'm gonna have to start charging, you hear?" The Joestar teased, enjoying himself thoroughly. It's not every day that you can get some quality laughs and a huge boost to your ego like this at the same time, and Joseph was enjoying it to no end.

"Oh good one, so funny I forgot to laugh." Yang said dryly, starting to get a little annoyed. "Anyway, I don't think my little sister ever introduced us. I'm Yang Xiao Long, Ruby's big sister, you?"

"Joseph Joestar, and I gotta admit," Joseph introduced himself confidently, holding out his hand for Yang to shake. "After seeing you and your sister, I can't help but wonder if all the girls in this academy are gonna be so good looking." He said, flirting harmlessly.

"You might wanna keep trying handsome, I've heard better pick-up lines." Yang jabbed, giving the Joestar a sly smile. This just caused Joseph to shrug his shoulders in response.

"Yare yare, if this keeps up, I'm gonna start thinking I have bad luck with women." Joseph sighed, although to be honest, this WAS one of his less catastrophic flirting attempts. Every other time, the brunette usually just got a slap in the face for his efforts. So maybe this was a sign that things were looking up for him in the dames department?

"So anyway, what were you two talking about?" The Joestar asked after a moment's thought, sliding into a sitting position as he did so.

"Well, my little sis seems to think that she doesn't have any friends here, and I'm trying to prove otherwise." Yang explained, playfully ruffling Ruby's hair up as she did so, which in turn got her another pillow to the face.

"WHAT!? What about me and Jaune!? I thought we were being great buddies earlier!" Joseph exclaimed, more than a little hurt at the idea that the silver-eyed girl didn't consider himself or Jaune her friends.

"I never said that! I'm just a bit worried about everything else that's happened today!" Ruby explained hastily. "I mean, I only met you, and by extension Jaune, from that explosion I caused earlier, and that made Weiss kinda hate me!" She rattled off, the dreadful explosion that made the white-haired girl want nothing to do with her still fresh on her mind.

"...Who?" Joseph asked after a moment, having not been privy to the sisters' conversation with the heiress earlier.

"White hair? Fancy clothes? Runs her mouth?" Yang explained, summing up her first impressions of Weiss in a nutshell.

"OH! That harpy! Well frankly, I wouldn't really be too broken up over her. Hanging out with her any longer would've just earned you a migraine from all her screeching." Joseph dismissed, not understanding the point of Ruby's distress.

"Yeah! I agree with Joseph here! Just look at it like this, you've just made two friends and one enemy!" These attempts at reassurance, however, only earned the two a flurry of balled up pieces of paper to the face.

"You two are NOT helping!" Ruby said with a huff as she tore another piece of paper out of her notebook.

"Look," Yang sighed when Ruby finally ran out of paper to throw. "It's only been one day. Trust me; you've got friends all around you! You just haven't met them yet!" As the blonde continued her reassurances, the trio's attention was soon drawn to the sound of a candle being lit up. When they looked towards the source of the light, they saw a black haired girl sitting in the corner reading a book. Joseph and Ruby recognized her as the same girl from the incident with Weiss.

"That girl…" Ruby thought aloud, recalling the black-haired girl's brief appearance at the pathway.

"You know her?" Yang asked, curiosity already gnawing at her.

"Not really." Ruby began. "She saw what happened this morning, but left before I could say anything." Upon hearing all this, a mischievous smile made it's way onto the blonde brawler's face.

"Well, now's your chance to talk to her! C'mon!" And before Ruby could react, Yang grabbed her arm and began to drag her towards the still-reading girl.

"Wait! Hold on a minute!" Ruby yelled, trying to pry her hand out of her sister's grip. But her struggling and protests were ultimately fruitless as the blonde continued to drag her sister to the girl in an attempt to start a conversation.

 _'Man, compared to all the shit I've been dealing with the past few months, this all feels like a real funny change of pace!'_ Joseph thought as he watched everything play out with a rather amused smile on his face. However, his smile slowly faded when he saw that Ruby and Yang's conversation with the girl was already starting to fall apart.

"God, talk about tactless! They're gonna get nowhere like that. I better go over and help lighten things up a bit." The Joestar said to no one in particular, already making his way over to the three girls. Looked as though it was time for Joseph to show off some of those good ol' Joestar charms.

* * *

"Uhh nice night, don't ya think?" Yang noted awkwardly, trying to help her sister start a conversation with the black-haired girl. Unfortunately, all their attempts to be friendly so far were just met with the cold shoulder.

"Yeah, it's lovely! Almost as lovely as this book I'm reading!" The girl said with fake enthusiasm, hoping the two would take the hint. When she noticed them still standing there, she continued. "Which I will continue to read." When the two still stood there, she let out an annoyed sigh before getting her point across. "As soon as you **leave."** She finished, putting emphasis on the last word in case they still didn't get it.

"Yeah, this girl's a lost cause." Yang scoffed, realizing the girl clearly wasn't interested in talking to them and more than a little offended by her dismissive attitude. Ruby looked as though she had something to say, but before she could say it, the sound of footsteps caught the silver-eyed girl's attention. Looking behind her, she saw Joseph walking towards the black-haired girl with a look of stone-faced look of determination on his face.

"Uhh… Joseph, what're you doing?" Ruby asked, a little off-put by unusually serious look on the normally goofy guy's face. Even Yang, who just met the Joestar, was caught off guard by his sudden shift in moods. Joseph, however, ignored Ruby's question and continued walking towards the girl, raising his right hand as he did so.

This odd display finally got the attention of the black-haired girl, who looked up from her book to see the same muscular man from earlier on the pathway walking towards her with his hand raised, seemingly reaching for something on her head.

' _What the hell?'_ The girl thought, beginning to feel very uncomfortable with how close this guy was getting. _'What's this guy trying to…? Wait…! He isn't trying to take my bow off… is he!? He doesn't know my_ _ **secret…**_ _does he!?'_ The girl thought, panic slowly rising through her very being as the muscular man's hand inched closer and closer to her face. There was no way this guy could've known about her **secret** , she made sure that her bow would hide the biggest giveaway. But if that was the case, then what was he trying to do right now!?

Every fiber in the girl's being was screaming at her to get up and stop this guy before his hand reached her face, but for some reason, her limbs wouldn't respond. She felt like a deer caught in headlights! And so, she could only watch as the man's hand finally closed the distance to her face and…

 ***poke***

" _Touched youuuuu~~!"_

….Poked her nose?

Yes, in a move that rendered the black-haired girl speechless, Joseph did something that caught her off guard entirely, and that was the simple action of poking her on the nose before hoping away a few feet merrily. It seemed as though she wasn't the only one surprised by this turn of events either, for both Ruby and Yang were currently giving Joseph a look that bordered on pure bafflement and confusion. However, the Joestar didn't seem to notice any of the stares he was getting and continued, a big friendly smile clear on his face.

"What~? Why are you giving me the silent treatment like this? Cat got your tongue or something?" Joseph asked the girl, who was still looking at him in shock and confusion.

"H-Huh? No, but what are you even-"

"Then try and be a bit more talkative!" Joseph interrupted, the smile he wore not fading in the slightest. "We're just trying to be friendly here! Just try repeating this! _HELLO~ How're you doing~?"_

" _HAPPY, JOY-PY, DAMNED PLEASED TO MEET YA!"_

" _HAPPY, JOY-PY, DAMNED_ _ **MEASED**_ _TO_ _ **PLEET**_ _YA!"_

Joseph continued his merry chant another time, unaware of the stares the various initiates in the ballroom were giving him, as well as the looks of pure confusion on Ruby's, Yang's, and the black-haired girl's faces. Suddenly, he turned around and pointed towards the sisters, waving his fingers back and forth like a music conductor.

"C'mon everybody all together now: _HAPPY! JOY-PY! DAMNED PLEASED TO MEET YA!"_ The brunette finished happily, giving the black-haired girl an odd, two fingered salute. After a moment of confused silence, Yang was the first one to speak up.

"Hey, Joseph…?" She asked, a blank look on her face.

"Yeah, something the matter?" Joseph asked as he looked at the black-haired girl expectantly, who had begun shaking again like she did back at the pathway.

"Could you… explain to me just what in the hell you were doing just now? I'm kinda having a hard time comprehending it, to be honest." She asked, honestly not sure what to make of the situation.

"Well, I figured that warm welcome could help her crawl out of her shell! And what better way to welcome someone than to make it clear you're pleased to meet them?" Joseph explained, confident that he gave the girl a warm introduction.

"Really? Wow Joseph, you _**really**_ know how to talk to people. That was _**super cool**_ of you." Yang deadpanned, sarcasm dripping from her voice. Unfortunately for her, Joseph seemed oblivious to the blonde's thinly veiled sarcasm.

"Heh you really think so? Thanks!" The brunette thanked, puffing his chest in pride at what he perceived as praise, which, in turn, caused Yang to slap her palm into her face in exasperation. She looked as though she was going to say something, but the sound of giggling cut off her train of thought. Looking towards the source of the noise, Joseph, Ruby, and Yang looked to see the girl with black hair laughing lightly. She continued laughing for another moment before she took a deep breath and looked towards Joseph with a smile.

"Heh... man, I haven't been able to laugh like that in a while. You're a pretty funny guy, you know that?" The girl complimented, which caused Joseph to scratch the back of his head, flattered by the girl's words.

"Well~, I try to lighten the atmosphere when I can. I kinda hate it when everybody's needlessly depressed." Joseph admitted, giving the girl one of his cocky smiles.

"Well, you certainly do a good job of it." She noted before she realized something. "Now that I think of it, I don't recall you ever giving your name. What is it?"

"Joseph Joestar. You?"

Blake Belladonna." The girl, now known as Blake, introduced herself. While she did this, she couldn't help but be a bit curious about Joseph's name. Despite how odd it sounded, this young man's name didn't appear to follow Remnant's naming rule, which was quite the rare occurrence.

'" _Joestar..." that really is quite the unique name. Maybe his family name dates back from before the Great War?'_ She thought momentarily before deciding to focus on the matter at hand.

"So, was there something you needed to ask?" She asked, which caused Joseph to look at her in slight surprise.

"OH! Well, uh… my pal Ruby wanted to… to… to ask you about your book!" Joseph said hastily, pointing towards her hardcover book, which caused Blake and Ruby to look at him in surprise

"She does?" Blake asked.

"I do?" Ruby also asked before she before the look Joseph gave her told her to play along. "I mean, yeah! I really do! What's it about?"

"Well… I-It's about a man with two souls, each fighting for control over his body." She explained, not expecting the conversation to take this direction.

"Oh, yeah… that's really lov-MMPH!" Before Yang could finish her snide remark, Joseph, who was watching the unfolding events like it was a TV drama, suddenly brought a palm to her mouth, effectively silencing her.

"Shh! This is getting good!" Joseph whispered, still watching the conversation intently. Yang let out a few annoyed grunts in response, but did as she was told.

"I love books." Ruby continued. "Yang used to read to me every night before bed. Stories of heroes and monsters… They're one of the reasons I want to be a Huntress!" She confessed, a fond smile on her face as she thought back to all the wonderful tales Yang read to her when she was little.

"And why is that? Hoping you'll live happily ever after?" Blake asked, a small smile beginning to show on her face.

"Well," Ruby began, not exactly sure how she should word this. "I'm hoping we all will. As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books… someone who fought for what was right, and protected people who couldn't protect themselves!" This statement caused Blake to give her a strange look, like she was trying to see if those were her true intentions, before she responded.

"You… had some pretty ambitious goals as a child." After saying this, however, Blake's smile faded into a frown. "Unfortunately, the real world isn't the same as a fairy tale."

'" _Not some fairy tale?" Is she sure about that? Cause everything I've seen of this place proves otherwise...'_ Joseph thought to himself, thinking back to everything he's seen in the last two days. If you asked him, this entire world felt like one big fantasy novel! But then again, what Joseph considered unreal here was a common occurrence to everyone else, so maybe he wasn't the best person to consult about something like that.

"Well, that's why we're here!" Ruby suddenly said, snapping Joseph out of his thoughts. "To make it better." Upon hearing this, the muscular brunette couldn't help but smile at the girl's optimistic behavior, and it seemed he wasn't the only one either.

"Oh, I'm so proud of my baby sister!" Yang said happily as she hugged Ruby, lifting her into the air as she did so.

"Cut it out!" Ruby yelled in protest, kicking Yang in the face. In no time at all, what started out as some sisterly love turned into a dust cloud straight out of a Saturday morning cartoon. Blake couldn't help but let out a small laugh as she watched the brawl play out.

"Well, Ruby, Yang, Joseph, it's been a pleasure to ha-"

"What in the world is going on over here!?"

' _Oh shit, wish I had some earplugs."_ Joseph thought with dread as he saw one irate Weiss Schnee stomp over to the brawling sisters.

"Don't you realize some of us are trying to sleep!?" It was at this point that Yang and Ruby finally took note of the angry heiress and Weiss finally realized that these were the same people who were getting on her nerves earlier.

" **OH NOT YOU AGAIN!"** Both Yang and Weiss yelled out, neither of them happy to see each other again.

"Shh! Guys, she's right!" Ruby interjected quickly. "People are trying to sleep!"

"oh, _now_ you're on my side!"

"I was always on your side!"

"Yeah, what's your problem with my sister? She's only trying to be nice!"

"She's a hazard to my health!"

"It's always 'yell! yell! yell!' with you people! My head's gonna rupture like a damn melon if this keeps up!"

 **(1)... Now, some of you might think I'm a little weird for giving Joseph custom designed boxers, and I wouldn't blame you for thinking so either, BUT TO BE FAIR, that would make Araki just as weird! In Diamond Is Unbreakable, Koichi has these crazy looking custom made boxers that have gender symbols all over them. You can see them in the chapter where the Ultimate MangaKa Kishibe Rohan is introduced. So if anything, I'm just staying consistent with the JoJo artstyle ._.**

 **Okay, so this really has nothing to do with the story, but I would appreciate it if you read this nonetheless. I'm posting this at the end of the chapter because I need a bit of help with something. Basically, if anybody has ever heard of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure fan game, The 7th Stand user, could they please PM me? I'm trying to download and play that game myself, but I'm not a very tech savy guy. If there are any readers who HAVE installed and played this game, I would greatly appreciate it if they told me what I need to install this game. Please keep in mind though, that I only want people to PM me about this if they can help, please try and refrain from posting any reviews regarding this issue.**

 **Anyway, I hope this chapter lived up to everyone's expectations. So thanks, I hope everyone tunes in again when I have the next chapter up. Anyway, seeya!**


	4. chapter 4

_.._ **uhh… hey. SO! I just saw the english dub for Battle Tendency… and dear god! I've got a feeling so complicated right now O_O. I mean… the dialogue and voice acting's pretty good for the most part, but JESUS CHRIST, JOSEPH'S VOICE! HE'S VOICED BY FUCKING NUMBUH 1! After hearing Joseph's japanese voice actor for so long, I've come to associate his tone of voice with Joseph on instinct, and to hear Numbuh 1 from Codename: Kids Next Door give him this posh, british accent… it just makes me feel so conflicted :(**

 **But enough about my english dub angst, here's the new chapter, and I hope you all enjoy it!**

 **DISCLAIMER: lolrus555 owns neither JoJo's Bizarre Adventure nor RWBY, they are the property of Hirohiko Araki and Rooster Teeth respectively.**

 **Joseph Joestar: Hamon Hunter**

 _...For some strange reason, Joseph couldn't think straight at all. What was he doing after he went to bed last night…? All he remembered was going to sleep in his sleeping bag, and next thing he knew, he was suddenly standing near these open gates in a wide open field that was covered in snow, the dark grey clouds overhead indicating that it was going to snow soon. While he couldn't exactly remember what he was doing after he fell asleep, the soreness that spread throughout his entire body indicated that the Joestar recently got into a fight… and was on the receiving end of a rather painful beatdown. This, however, didn't explain what happened or how he ended up in this strange place._

 _As Joseph continued to ponder just what was going on here, the sound of a horse galloping and a wooden wheel moving against cobblestone caught his attention. Before he knew it, a dark-blue horse carriage suddenly came to a halt outside of the gate, catching Joseph's attention._

' _ **A horse carriage? I thought those things went out of fashion when automobiles were invented… what's it doing here…? well, wherever here is…'**_ _Joseph thought to himself, still confused about the entire situation. Suddenly, as in response to this internal question, the doors to the carriage suddenly opened up, and just as soon as they did, a figure in a blue suddenly jumped out of the carriage in what Joseph thought was a rather melodramatic manner. When the figure touched down, they turned towards Joseph, giving him a good look at them._

 _The figure in question was a blonde boy in a blue suit. From what Joseph could tell, the boy looked to be around 12 years old, however, what caught his attention above all else was his expression. The look on his face was that of a boy that had been shaped by a cold and unforgiving upbringing, one that had offered little to no happiness. His cold orange eyes were only a testament to this, giving off a vibe that screamed_ _ **"Don't fuck with me."**_

' _ **Jesus, what crawled up this guy's ass and died…?'**_ _Joseph thought wryly, put off by the boy's piercing gaze. Suddenly, much to his shock, Joseph began to feel his mouth open up against his will and began to speak to the boy._

" _Well, that was quite the dramatic entrance! You must be Dio Brando, right?" Joseph heard himself say, and oddly enough, these words felt oddly appropriate as well. Despite having no idea what was going on, or how he even knew this boy's name, Joseph didn't feel strange in the slightest, despite the circumstances._

" _Indeed, and you must be Jonathan Joestar." 'Dio' responded, giving Joseph a slight smile. However, while the brunette felt himself smile and nod in response, his thoughts were currently put into a frenzy thanks to what that blonde boy just said to him._

' _ **HOLD THE PHONE! Did he just say "Jonathan Joestar!?" Granny Erina said that was the name of her husband… so does this mean this guy who's speaking through me is… my GRANDPA!? WHAT THE FUCK'S GOING ON HERE!?'**_ _Joseph mentally screamed, frantically trying to regain control of his body to no avail. Despite Dio's statement snapping him out of the haze the dream put him in, he still couldn't bring himself to do anything. It was like somebody strapped him to a chair in a movie theater. He could only watch the following events unfold with no input whatsoever._

" _Well, all my friends just call me JoJo, but anyway Dio, I hope we both get along!" Joseph heard himself, or rather Jonathan, respond cheerily. Before Dio could say anything else, Joseph began to hear the sound of barking, which brought their attention to the source of the noise. Near the front of what seemed to be a humongous mansion was a black and white Great Dane, which was quickly trotting towards the two youths. Joseph noticed that 'Jonathan' appeared to be familiar with the dog, if the smile he felt on his face was any indication._

" _ah, Danny!" Joseph heard Jonathan say happily. "That's Danny, my dog and steadfast companion. Don't worry, he won't bite, he knows better than to nip a stranger." Jonathan explained to Dio as the dog quickly sprinted towards them. However, it seemed that Dio either wasn't listening to Jonathan or didn't seem to care, for as soon as Danny got close, Joseph saw Dio brutally kick the dog in the chin, leaving the poor animal paralyzed on the ground._

' _ **JESUS CHRIST! Guess he isn't a dog person…!'**_ _Joseph thought, shocked, and quite frankly, disgusted by Dio's actions._

" _Wha-!? DANNY! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?" Jonathan yelled angrily, getting into a boxing stance. Dio took this in stride, getting into the same stance without the slightest hint of worry on his face._

" _Fighting already, I see?"_

 _However, before either of them could come to blows, an old, masculine voice suddenly spoke up, drawing their attention away from each other. However, as Jonathan turned towards the source of the voice, Joseph's vision began to grow white, preventing him from getting a good look at the figure._

* * *

Joseph's eyes flashed open the moment he had the chance. Wasting no time, the Joestar bolted upright and quickly looked around. To his immense relief, he found himself back inside the ballroom and bundled up in his comfy sleeping bag. As soon as he realized this, he collapsed back into his sleeping bag and let out a sigh of relief.

"Hooh… man, what a dream." Joseph thought out loud as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "...was it even a dream…? That felt too real to be one, it felt more like… a vision…" Joseph was going to ponder this further when he began to feel a fierce grumbling in his stomach.

"Ah, screw it! I can't think on an empty stomach! Time to get some grub!" And with that, the muscular brunette sprung up and began to get ready for the day. However, as he began to leave the ballroom, Joseph was none the wiser that the Red Stone of Aja, which he had kept in his shirt pocket in case any pickpockets got any ideas, had been glowing hotly the entire night, and only now had begun to die down.

* * *

 _Alright! So I'm looking for a… "locker 987", that's where all my… supplies should be.'_ Joseph thought to himself as he walked into Beacon's gigantic locker room. Currently, there were a variety of students and initiates who were either getting ready for classes or preparing for the mysterious initiation Ozpin had in store for them. As Joseph began to look through the locker room, passing by some familiar faces as well as plenty he'd never seen before, he couldn't help but think back to that strange dream he had. Normally, Joseph never managed to remember the contents of his dreams for more than a few minutes after he woke up, but the events of this dream were still fresh in his head.

' _Jonathan Joestar… granny Erina hardly ever talked about grandad for a good chunk of my life. Hell, it took a lot of persistence on my part to even get her to tell me how he died.'_ Joseph thought as he reached the 900 lockers.

 _'I had the basic idea of what happened once she told me, but coach Lisa Lisa managed to shed some more light on that matter before my fight with Wamuu.'_ Joseph thought, thinking back to what his teacher told him in that coliseum. _'Apparently, while he and grandma were on their honeymoon trip to America, something happened to the boat involving a vampire which ended with the entire ship going up in flames. The only survivors of that grisly incident were granny Erina and Lisa Lisa, if what she told me was true. So far so good.'_ As Joseph thought this over, he finally made it over to his locker, where his clackers and special supplies were stored.

' _Buuuut,'_ Joseph thought as he put in the code to his locker _'None of this explains why I'm suddenly dreaming about my late grandpa, who I've never even met in the first place. I don't even know if that was even a dream! It just felt too… vivid to be one...'_ However, as Joseph's locker clicked unlocked, he decided to focus on more present matters rather than things he knew hardly anything about.

' _Well, there are more important things to worry about than annoyingly cryptic dreams.'_ Joseph thought as he took his clackers out and fastened them to his belt. Once he made sure they were securely attached, Joseph did the same for his bag of special supplies. There were still many things Joseph didn't know about these "Grimm" creatures, and just in case things got a bit too heated, the Joestar made sure to get himself a bag of emergency supplies to bail him out. Once he made sure that his equipment was all on him, Joseph took a moment to admire his appearance in the mirror.

' _Damn! I might just end up going to hell, because it must be a SIN to look this good looking~!'_ Joseph thought with pride as he took in his current outfit. Since initiations were likely going to have a big impact on his time at Beacon, the Joestar wanted to wear his flashiest outfit to make a good impression on anyone he met. Currently, instead of his usual outfit, Joseph was currently dressed up in a light-blue tank top with a matching pair of blue pants. On both his arms were a set of turquoise gauntlets with various jewelry adorned on each arm. On his left arm was just a large green bracelet, but on his right arm were a series of jewel encrusted bracelets which were all topped off by a gold watch. He was also wearing a peculiar looking cap that had various accessories on them, such as a multicolored star along with various small glass orbs hanging off the cap. This entire outfit was all topped off by the dark blue cape which ended above his kneecaps. It was worth noting that the cape had the outlining of fire etched onto it. The cape itself was held in place by a set of suspenders that came with Joseph's pants, but they were so dark that they were hardly noticeable. **(1)**

"I gotta say, it feels good to look good!" Joseph claimed pridefully, and while some people would call the flamboyant brunette's outfit tacky, if any of them said that to his face, they'd only get a punch to the gut for their troubles.

As Joseph was about to make his way out of the locker room, however, he saw something that caught his eye. What he saw was Ruby and Yang in the middle of trying to get a disheartened Jaune off the ground. By the time Joseph made it over to them, Ruby and Jaune were already in the middle of leaving the locker room, leaving him with Yang.

"I'm gonna go off on a limb and say lady troubles, am I warm or cold?" Joseph guessed as he watched the two leave. Yang could only chuckle when she heard, this confirming his suspicions.

"Yup, that about sums it up." Yang confirmed before she looked to Joseph. When she got a good look at his outfit, she could help but raise an eyebrow at him.

"Hehe, I see you've noticed my clothes. I wanted to leave a good impression on anybody I ran into today, so I got into my best outfit." Joseph explained before he gave Yang a flirty smile. "So what do you think? I look pretty hot when I'm dressed up, huh?" Joseph asked before he put his arms up in a cross-like formation, getting into another pose before looking to Yang expectantly, who was currently covering her mouth to not laugh out loud at the Joestar's antics, or just how… _**flamboyant**_ he looked right now.

"Joseph, I'm gonna be completely honest here," Yang began when she managed to suppress her laughter. "If it was anybody else asking me if they looked good in that outfit, I'd tell them that they'd looked like they ran full speed through a jewelry store, crashing into everything in sight, before diving into a vat of powdered wind dust."

"Christ, could you be a bit more blunt? I don't think you completely destroyed my self-esteem yet." Joseph grimaced. What was with people riffing on his fashion sense?! He thought he looked pretty good most of the time!... Then again, when he was the only one thinking that, then there might actually be a problem…

"You didn't let me finish," Yang interrupted, drawing him out of his brooding. "that's what I would normally tell anybody else. In your case, though…" Yang stopped speaking to briefly size him up once more before she smiled. "I gotta admit, you look really good in that outfit." She finished, giving Joseph a flirty smile that was similar to the one he had previously. Before Joseph could respond to this, the sound of the intercom starting up, caught the two's attention.

"Would all first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation? Again, all first-year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately."

"Well, that sounds like our cue, you coming handsome?" Yang asked, already heading towards the locker room's exit.

"You joking?" Joseph retorted, catching up to Yang. "I wouldn't miss this for the end of the world."

* * *

"For years, many of you-"

 ***CLUNK***

"-have trained to become-"

 ***CLUNK***

"-warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in-"

 ***CLUNK***

"-the Emerald forest." Ozpin finished explaining to all the initiates on Beacon cliff, not showing any indication that he was bothered, or even noticed, the rhythmic sound of steel balls clacking against each other, taking the interruptions they caused in stride.

"Now, I'm sure-"

 ***CLUNK***

"...I'm sure many of you have-"

 ***CLUNK***

"- _I'm SURE many of-_ "

 ***CLUNK***

" **-MR. JOESTAR!"** Ms. Goodwitch finally yelled, her patience finally dried up. In response to hearing his name called out, Joseph, who had been absentmindedly playing with his Hamon clackers, looked towards the irate teacher with a disinterested look on his face.

"Huh, yeah? Something wrong teach?" Joseph asked, not noticing the ice-cold glare Ms. Goodwitch was sending him.

"Will you _ **PLEASE**_ stop playing with those steel balls? I'm trying to explain how teams are going to be formed." The blonde teacher explained, barely able to keep her temper in check.

"Alright, sure. I would've stopped sooner if someone said something." Joseph said nonchalantly, not noticing the glares of the various students who _DID_ try to say something, but were promptly ignored. Goodwitch kept her stern gaze on the young man for another moment before she sighed and continued.

"...As I was saying, to clear up any confusion, we will explain how the teams will be set up here and now. Each of you will be given teammates, _today."_ During the explanation, Joseph could've sworn he heard Ruby groan in grief for some reason. Shrugging it off as his imagination, he continued to listen to Ozpin and Goodwitch.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well."

' _Well, at least there isn't any pressure.'_ Joseph thought dryly as he continued to listen. So, on top of actually getting through this forest alive, the Joestar now had to worry about finding partners that he won't despise...

.

.

.

...Considering the type of person Joseph was, this was going to be much harder than it sounded…

"That being said," Ozpin started once more. "the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

Funnily enough, Joseph could've sworn he heard something similar to glass breaking nearby when Ozpin announced this. Although for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what it was.

" **Whaaaat!?"** She cried out in agony, already dreading the idea of having three total strangers as her teammates during her time at Beacon.

"See?" A cheery looking girl with orange hair said to her friend, a boy in green clothes with black hair, a single pink streak amid all the black. "I told you-!"

"After you've been partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest." Ozpin interrupted, continuing his explanation of the initiation. "You will all end up facing heavy opposition on the way there. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path… or you **will** die." This is the statement that catches Joseph's attention. While he did have a basic idea of what he was going to face in this forest, this would be the first time facing a Grimm up close, so the experience was bound to be very interesting.

"You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. You will guard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?" He finished, ready to start the examination.

"Yeah, um, sir?" Jaune asked timidly, raising his hand.

"Good! Now take your positions." Ozpin said suddenly, pretending not to notice the blonde boy's raised hand. Upon hearing this, most of the Beacon initiates got into position except for Jaune and Joseph, the both of whom were rather confused about the initiation. Jaune because he wasn't sure what the landing strategy was supposed to be, and Joseph because he hadn't even been listening to Ozpin's explanation, only that it involved finding a temple or something

"Uh, sir, I've actually got a question," Jaune began, not noticing the various students that were being launched off the cliff from their tiles. Something that hadn't gone unnoticed by a baffled Joseph.

' _Wait, HOLD THE FREAKING PHONE! They're gonna LAUNCH US into this forest!?'_ Joseph thought, getting more panicked as more students got launched from their tiles, his own turn coming closer and closer with each student.

"So this landing… strategy thing… Uh, wha-what is it? Are you gonna drop us off into the forest or something?" At this point, Joseph would've tried to warn his friend about what was about to happen, but he was frankly too shocked to even speak. By the time the person next to Joseph, a rather broad guy with armor and a brown crew-cut, was about to get launched, he felt somebody tap him on the shoulder. Turning around, he saw Yang suddenly hand him a pair of aviator glasses.

"I think you're gonna need these." She explained, the smile she was giving Joseph not reassuring in the slightest. As the broad guy next to Joseph suddenly got launched, Yang then gave the Joestar a two-fingered salute. "Well, I'll be seeing _you_ on the flipside! Sayonara, handsome!"

And with that farewell, the Joestar began to feel the tile he was standing on wind up.

"Ohhhhh SHI-" And before he could even finish that profanity, Joseph Joestar was launched into the sky with the rest of the Beacon initiates, his scream fading away the further he flew.

Ozpin, who was still in the middle of explaining to Jaune that there would be _no_ landing strategy except for the ones they came up with, couldn't help but crack a smile as he heard the Joestar get launched.

' _Oh, how I love the little things.'_

* * *

 **1\. Joseph's costume is essentially a blue version of the one he wears on the 7th issue of Battle Tendency. The variation I described is actually an alternate costume for Joseph in All Star Battle. If you want to see it for yourself and you don't own the game, then just go onto Youtube and type in " JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle-Campaign 1: All Costumes/Colors!" I think it's a costume that suits Joseph quite well!**

 **And there we have it! So, I want to apologize for the longer wait for this chapter. I finally managed to play the seventh Stand User, and it was awesome, then I got to play Trilby: The Art Of Theft, and** _ **that**_ **was also awesome, and then I played some Serious Sam, and** _ **urrgh**_ **, so good!**

 **but yeah, if anybody has anything to say about this chapter, then once again, I would love to hear your thoughts on it! Also, certain questions you all have about things like Stands and team setups will be answered in due time, but you have to keep in time that Rome wasn't built in a day. If I reveal all my trump cards in the Authors' notes or in PMs, then there won't be any cool plot twists!**

 **But anyway, thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed! Seeya!**


	5. Chapter 5

**REVISED 6/6/17**

 **And here's a new chapter! Not much to say except I hope you all enjoy!**

 **DISCLAIMER: lolrus555 owns neither JoJo's Bizarre Adventure or RWBY. The franchises belong to Hirohiko Araki and Rooster Teeth respectively.**

 **Joseph Joestar: Hamon Hunter**

 **(Unknown. Last night when Joseph was sleeping.)**

「」

In parts unknown, deep within an ancient building that had been claimed by shadows, a mysterious, shirtless figure was currently in this imposing building's main bedroom sleeping quietly on his silken bed. The sheer darkness in the room made it impossible to discern this figure's features, but there were a few features about this man that the darkness couldn't hide, such as his mane of golden blonde hair that went down to his shoulders, his muscular shirtless body, the the dull red scar around his neck, and the 「green star marking」on the back of his neck. However, the most important thing to note about this man currently was the 「beautiful, dark red gemstone he wore on his neck.」 The gem itself was glowing hotly, and it was enough to slowly rouse the shadowy man from his slumber.

"That… sensation I felt just now…" The mysterious figure said to himself, palming the jewel inside his necklace. The red stone was still shining brightly, and it didn't look like it was going to die down anytime soon. Letting the necklace dangle from his neck once more, the figure got up from his king-sized bed and walked towards the full length mirror he owned.

"It would appear… that not even the gap of an alternate dimension is enough to sever the connection this body has with the Joestar bloodline…" The man said to himself before he once again palmed the glowing Jewel in his necklace.

"...And the gems are only amplifying the connection this Joestar has with Jonathan Joestar's body…" As the man said this, he ran his thumb across the stone, feeling it's smooth, glassy texture.

"Even if I got rid of it now, the connection has still been made… he will continue to have visions of JoJo's life… and eventually become aware of my existence…" The man growled, annoyed at having to deal with this unnecessary complication.

"...I may have to act sooner than I originally anticipated… once these visions reach a certain point, I'll be forced to send somebody after him…" However, as the man said this, his grimace turned into a smirk.

"...and I think I know just who to send…"

* * *

 **Panic (Pan*ic): To experience** **sudden uncontrollable fear or anxiety, often causing wildly unthinking behavior.**

For the longest time, Joseph Joestar thought that panic was a word that didn't exist in his vocabulary. Not matter how grim, hopeless, or dangerous the situation got, the trickster of the Joestar bloodline almost always managed to devise a plan that ended with him getting the last laugh.

However, as Joseph flew thousands of feet through the air screaming, he began to realize that panic _might_ be in his vocabulary after all.

"HOLYSHITHOLYSHITHOLYSHITHOLYSHITHOLYSHIT!"

Just maybe.

' _OKAY, ALRIGHT! Just calm down Joseph! Calm down! You can do this! You're a genius who can think his way out of practically any situation! Just don't think about how you're about to crash into that sea of green any second now…!... Wait… WAITWAITWAIT! I'VE GOT AN IDEA!'_ Wasting no time at all now that he had a way to save himself, Joseph quickly redirected his trajectory towards some of the more clusterered trees before curling up into a ball.

" **KOOOOOH...!"**

After doing all this, he also began to let Hamon flow through his body, causing the yellow electricity to radiate throughout him. For all intents and purposes, Joseph essentially became a spinning, balled up Hamon conductor.

Which was exactly what he wanted.

Just as Joseph figured, as soon as he crashed into the dense amount of leaves, the hamon energy that was radiating throughout him spread through the leaves, stabilizing them to the point where they could all support his weight. The basic principle of this technique worked similarly to the Hamon hair attack. By flooding the power of the sun through the normally frail leaves, they were able to harden to the point that they could hold him up and soften his landing simultaneously.

"Ho! MAN! That was a close one!" Joseph breathed out, lying back on the leaves for a moment to catch his breath. As he lied back and looked towards the sky, he saw the various other initiates fly by him, all of them using some sort of crazy landing strategy with their weapons to land rather gracefully.

"Well, looks like they're having an easier time of it than me... stinkin' show offs." Joseph muttered to himself. After taking another moment to catch his breath, Joseph decided it was time to move on.

"Alright, now I just gotta get down from-"

 ***CRACK***

"...here" Joseph finished, a cold sweat running through him as the implications of that loud crack sank in for him. Now that he thought about it, he wasn't really using his hamon breathing anymore… and these leaves _did_ seem a lot less… _stable_.

.

.

.

"OH…

MY…

GOOO-!"

And before Joseph could finish that exclamation, the leaves finally gave out and sent him falling deeper into the foliage.

* * *

 ***CRUNCH***

" **OH GOD!"**

 ***CRAACK***

" **OH SHEEET!"**

 ***SPLINT***

 **"SANADABEETCH"**

 ***WHUMP***

" **NO! MY SEXY HAND!"**

As one could likely imagine, falling through so much foliage and colliding with practically every branch made for a pretty terrible landing for Joseph. However, as Joseph kept crashing through the trees, he saw that he was about to reach the end of the branches and that it was a 20 foot drop to the ground.

"Oh crap, oh crap, OH CRAP!" Was all Joseph could yell as he fell towards the ground. However, right as he was about to faceplant the ground, he stopped.

"...Wait… what?" It took the Joestar another moment before he realized that he was dangling in the air, apparently having got caught on something on the way down.

"Did I get gnarled up in something on the way down? What the hell caught me?" However, before Joseph could attempt to look up and see what he got caught on, he suddenly face planted the ground.

"Well…" Joseph groaned as he got his face off the ground and dusted himself off. "That was a miserable experience." Once he made sure that he was properly dusted off and that his clackers and bag were still tied to his belt, Joseph looked upwards to try and see what caught him. However, to his great surprise, the Joestar saw nothing aside from a few falling leaves.

"What…? There's no vines or anything! So what the hell happened!?" However, after a moment, Joseph just sighed and shook his head in frustration.

"Y'know what? Screw it, there are more important things to worry about than _invisible vines._ Like finding that… thing I'm supposed to find." Now that he thought about it, what _was_ Joseph supposed to be doing here? He hadn't really been paying much attention when Ozpin and Goodwitch went into detail on that. He knew he was supposed to find… something, he just couldn't remember _what._

"well," Joseph sighed as he picked a random direction and started walking. "I'm sure I'll figure it out as I go along."

* * *

' _God, this forest sure is dark...'_ Joseph thought as he continued his walk through the Emerald Forest. It seemed that the part of the forest he ended up in was far more dense than the other sections. He also noticed that because the treetops were so close together, the leaves ended up blocking out any potential rays of sunlight, making it seem like night had come early.

' _Better get outta here as quick as I can. I'm definitely not going to run into anything friendly around these parts.'_ Joseph thought as he sped up his pace. It was strange though... despite this part of the forest seeming like the perfect hotspot for the Grimm to lurk in, he hadn't run into anything since he landed. It was actually very eerie, just how _quiet_ this area was.

After a few more minutes of walking, however, Joseph happened upon quite the interesting sight. Although it certainly wasn't a Grimm.

"Well, well, well... what have we here…?" Joseph said to himself. Strung up between two trees was a thick white string. It was a strange sight that was very out of place in the dark and green forest. Deciding to try and see what the string was made of, Joseph grabbed onto the string and felt it's texture.

"Urrgh… it's all silky and… sticky…" Joseph grimaced. Deciding he had enough, the Joestar tried to withdraw his hand from the string. However, he found that the string was still stuck to his hand like glue.

"Nani!? RRRGH! C'mon already!" Joseph groaned out, doubling his efforts. "GOD! WHAT IS THIS CRAP!? LIQUID CEMENT!?" Fortunately, after pulling with all his strength, Joseph was finally able to dislodge his hand from the string, the force from his pulling landing him on his back.

"Urrgh, gross!" Joseph groaned when he realized that some of the silk from the string was still stuck to his hand. "What the hell is that stuff!? It's almost like some… kind of… webbing…"

Once Joseph said this, he began to take a better look at his surroundings, and what he saw was unnerving, to say the least. When Joseph took a better look around, he realized that white string wasn't the only one in the area. He just now realized that he was completely surrounded by the same strings, all of them connected to different trees like some sort of network of webbing.

"...It's like I'm in a big spiderweb…" Joseph uttered, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable about this entire part of the forest. This discomfort wasn't eased when he noticed some white bundles of varying sizes stuck to various different strings.

"...I better skedaddle on outta here before the welcoming committee comes to greet me." Not at all eager to find the creator of these webs, Joseph quickly sprinted out of the area, taking extra caution to not get caught in any of the webbing.

* * *

"Wooh! Finally!" Joseph exclaimed happily as he was finally greeted with the blue sky once again. "Oh sunlight, daddy's missed you! Nice to finally be outta that creepy part of the forest." Once Joseph said this and took in the wonderful rays of light, he then decided to focus on what to do next.

"Well, I still have no idea on what to look for… so what does that leave me with…" Joseph said to himself, trying to think of a way to find out where he was supposed to go, and more importantly, where this place was even at. However, as he looked around his surroundings, still deep in thought, he took note of just how tall the trees in this forest were. This in turn gave Joseph a pretty good idea.

"Guess I'll just get a good lay of the land and find out where to go from there." Joseph decided, realizing that he would be bound to find _something_ of note while up there, whether it be his objective or the trails of carnage that the other Beacon initiates were bound to leave in their wake.

 ***WHUMP* *WHUMP* *WHUMP***

However, before Joseph could even attempt to climb one of the trees, the sound of something approaching caught his attention. When he turned towards the source, he was greeted with two gigantic black beasts charging towards him.

Taking this in stride, the Joestar quickly jumped out of the monsters' way. When they finally stopped upon realizing they missed their target, they turned towards him, giving Joseph a good look at his opponents.

In front of him were two gigantic bear-like monsters. Their bodies were covered in a pitch-black fur and they both had a bone-like plating dotted through their bodies haphazardly. What caught Joseph's eye the most about these creatures were their faces. The both of them had white, mask-like faces similar to the plating on their bodies. The masks also had a red lining that all led up to eyes that burned with a pure, animalistic fury. A fury that was directed towards Joseph. Most normal men and women would usually be cowering in fear during their first encounter with the Grimm, especially with ones as intimidating as the Ursa.

However, Joseph Joestar was not a normal man.

"YEESH! What a sight! Does the rest of your freaky monster race look so... freaking looking, or are you freaks just the freaky exception!?" Joseph finished lamely, stumbling over his words in an attempt to find the right word describing the snarling, pitch-black monsters in front of him. As if in response to this demand, the Ursa leading the pack quickly charged towards the muscular brunette roaring. Taking this in stride, he merely threw himself out of the monster's course. **(0)**

"...Should I take that as a 'yes' then?"

As if in response to this question, the two other Ursa proceeded to charge him as well. Thinking quickly, the muscular Joestar used his hamon to help him jump straight over the two charging beasts.

"Okay okay, sheesh! I guess the stupid, drooling monsters don't wanna talk." Joseph sighed melodramatically before he looked towards the Ursas with a renewed smile on his face. "Guess we skip right to the fighting then! I'd say it's high time to see just how well my hamon burns you fuckers to a crisp!" And upon making this cocky declaration, Joseph quickly got into a fighting stance, ready to see just how well his sunlight energy would fare against Grimm.

" **REBUFF OVERDRIVE!"**

Once the Ursa tried to attack Joseph once more, he responded in kind. As the beast tried to ram him like it did before, the Joestar stopped it dead in it's tracks when his elbow, which was radiating with Hamon, collided with it's chin.

" **GRORAUGHHHHH!"** The Ursa wailed in agony, the Hamon-infused attack burning away at it's skin, a result that pleased Joseph greatly.

"Well~! Looks like you fellows are just like vampires and zombies, if only a bit more durable! This proves my theory that you freaks are vulnerable to Hamon!" He declared, pleased with where this fight was going. The Ursa, now enraged thanks to Joseph's attack, charged the brunette at full speed with the intention to maul him. Taking this in stride, Joseph actually charged right back at the Ursa. However, at the last moment, Joseph managed to quickly get into a kneeling position and managed to _ **slide under the Ursa**_.

Once he made it under the monster, Joseph wasted no time and jumped onto the back of the confused creature. As soon as he got on it's back, he brought out his clackers and put them into action. Surging Hamon through the repurposed toys, Joseph slammed all four steel balls into the back of the Ursa's skull, creating four clacker-sized holes in the creature's head. The effects of the piercing weapons were immediate, and after being fatally struck by the Joestar, the Ursa could only let out a pathetically weak roar before it collapsed, dead.

' _That's one down...'_ Joseph thought triumphantly, almost unaware of the 2nd Ursa coming at him, it's fangs barred.

 _Almost._

"One more to go! **ZOOM PUNCH!"** As soon as the charging beast got into his range, Joseph turned around and launched a punch towards the beast. With the Hamon pulsing through the limb, his arm was able to extend like rubber, allowing Joseph to deliver a Hamon-charged sucker punch right between the beast's eyes.

"Hmph. Now to finish you off!" As the Ursa was distracted by it's burning wound, Joseph took the opportunity to build up some momentum in his clackers. By the time the Ursa recovered from Joseph's attack, his clackers were now bouncing around at a dangerously high speed.

"Eat this you damn moron! **CLACKER VOLLEY!"** And with that, the Joestar released both of the clackers from his grip, allowing them to go flying towards the Ursa. With no time to dodge, the beast could only watch as the steel balls lodged themselves in it's head with a sickening ** _CRUUUNCH!_** For a brief moment, the entire forest seemed oddly quiet, with Joseph waiting to see the fruits of his labor and the Ursa completely still, for whatever reason. And then, just as soon as the silence came, it left when the Ursa suddenly collapsed, black blood pouring from the burning holes the clackers created.

"Well~! That was pleasantly easy!" Joseph remarked as he walked up to the fallen beast to retrieve his clackers. "If that's really all these Grimm creatures have to offer, then I'm a bit surprised these hunters haven't managed to exterminate them all."

It was at this point, conveniently after making this little remark, that fate decided to shit all over Joseph.

" **Grrrrrrr….."**

As Joseph fished his weapons out of the dead Ursa's skull, he began to hear the sound of growling from behind him. Turning around, the Joestar found himself looking at a rather distressing sight.

"That's… that's a lot of bull… or boar, in this case…"

It seemed that the fight between Joseph and the Ursas garnered some unwanted attention, because the trickster now found himself facing a hoard of _forty_ boarbatusk, which all seemed to have set their sights on their new prey.

While Joseph had no doubt that he could likely take down one or five of these boar-like grimm with no real difficulty, forty all at once could prove to be a real problem. And so, the Joestar decided that for the time being, he would rely on his emergency technique until he could come up with something better.

 _'Time to put my ultimate move to good use!'_

With this in mind, Joseph immediately turned around 180 degrees and sprinted back into the dark sector of the emerald forest, a hoard of screeching Boarbatusks spinning after him.

* * *

' _These things don't quit, do they!?'_ Joseph thought as he sprinted through the darkened forest, taking extra care to not get caught in any webbing as he ran, the Boarbatusks hot on his trail. Upon hearing the sound of something cutting through the ground and coming right for him, the Joestar performed another hamon-infused jump, allowing him to sail right above a Boarbatusk that attempted to run him down from behind with it's spinning dash attack.

"GET OUT OF MY FACE YOU STUPID PIG! **OVERDRIVE!"** Wasting no time, the trickster of the Joestar bloodline punted the pig-like monster to the side with a hamon infused kick once it slowed down. The kick was more than enough to send the Boarbatusk off squealing and bouncing off various trees. Joseph couldn't take any time to slow down and appreciate his brief victory, however, with the rest of the Boarbatusk hoard right behind him.

 _'Heh..._ _what these things don't know is that they're all walking right into my trap! Just need to get a little further…!'_ And after a few more moments of sprinting, Joseph quickly slid under something before he came to a halt.

' _Made it.'_ And with a triumphant grin on his face, the Joestar turned around to see a Boarbatusk leaping towards him, ready to maul it's target. But before it could reach Joseph, the Grimm suddenly came to a halt mid-flight. The creature seemed to be very confused by it's current predicament, and tried to move out of the position it was currently in, but it seemed that struggling only made it harder for the Grimm to move. Since it was so preoccupied with catching it's target, the Boarbatusk failed to notice or avoid the the large line of webbing that was set up between the trees.

"You guys aren't very bright, are you?" Joseph asked rhetorically as he looked past the strung up Boarbatusk. Just as he figured, the rest of the Boarbatusk hoard got strung up in the rest of the webbing located in the area. Pleased with the results so far, Joseph moved over to a part of the string unoccupied by the struggling Grimm and grabbed onto it to enact the final phase of his plan.

' _Before I left this part of the forest, I noticed something_ _ **very**_ _interesting about the webbing in this area. Once I got a closer look and checked the corners of the trees, I found out that_ _ **all this webbing is connected**_ _. What I mean is that there aren't multiple strings like I initially thought, just a gigantic one that covers this entire area!'_

" **Koooooh...!"**

As Joseph mentally gloated, he began to charge the power of the sun through his entire body, readying himself for his final attack. Once his body was positively radiating with heat and life, he knew he was ready to fry every single ensnared Boarbatusk.

"And since this webbing is a naturally produced substance, that makes it a perfect Hamon conductor! Which mean you boys are all essentially ensnared in live wiring! Now enjoy my special Hamon treat!"

" **WHITE SILK OVERDRIVE!"**

And with that hot blooded statement, Joseph surged his Hamon through the web, lethally frying the entire hoard in one go. Once the overdrive had run it's course, all of the Boarbatusk had been fried to ash. The only evidence that they were even there in the first place being the small piles of ash that littered the entire sector.

"And that's the end of that!" Joseph said, triumph clear in his voice. "Now to get a good lay of the land!"

 ***click-click-click-click***

However, before Joseph could even attempt to leave the darkened sector of the Emerald forest, he began to hear a very odd… clicking noise.

 ***Click-Click-Click-Click***

What…? What the hell is that noise…!? Where's it coming from!?" Joseph thought aloud, an unpleasant sensation beginning to run through his spine. For some reason, this clicking seemed to be coming from every direction, making pinpointing it's source very difficult.

 ***ClackClackClackClack***

Now, the noise just seemed to be getting louder with no clear source. _'Damn! This isn't good…! I'm out in the open and I have no clue where this enemy is!_ ' Joseph knew that the smart move would be to book it out of here as quickly as he could, but he found that he couldn't bring himself to move his legs. It was like he was glued to the spot.

 ***Clack**

 **Clack**

 **Clack**

 **Clack***

And just then, the clicking suddenly began to come from one direction,

 _ **which was right behind Joseph…**_

 _ **ゴ**_

 _ **ゴ**_

 _ **ゴ**_

 _ **ゴ**_

Joseph didn't want to, but he knew he had to look towards the source of these noises. And so, mustering up his courage, the New York JoJo slowly turned around, coming face to face with a gigantic, pitch-black spider with smoldering red eyes **(1)** , it's long, pincer-like legs clacking against the bark of the tree.

" _Oh… my… god…"_

 **-** _ **To Be Continued**_

* * *

 **RWBY/JoJo database**

 **Creature name:** **Tarantella**

 **Species:** **Arachnid Grimm**

 **Stats:**

 **Destructive power: D**

 **Speed: E**

 **Range: C**

 **Durability: A**

 **Precision: C**

 **Developmental potential: B**

 **With very slow reflexes, this species of Grimm opts to set up webs in it's natural habitat and feast upon any unlucky prey that gets caught in their web, whether they be human, animal, or Grimm. The webs that they create prove to be very durable and require very careful movements to free yourself from it, as panicked movements only ensnare prey further. In direct combat, however, the Tarantella's combat style is rather simple, consisting of it trying to impale it's enemies with pincers and only that, as it's web-shooter is located in it's… nether region. Despite this, they are a very dangerous and formidable species of Grimm that should be approached with caution.**

* * *

 **(0). I just adjusted Joseph's dialogue to make him sound more like himself instead of another standard cocky jackass... which he is, but I wanted to be a bit more creative regarding one of the quirkiest Joestar's initial reaction to the Grimm.**

 **(1). In terms of size, it's a bit larger than a Death Stalker. Just as a form of reference.**

 **Nothing else to say, except I hoped you all enjoyed! Hopefully, I was able to mix RWBY's and JoJo's combat styles pretty well together. I'm sorry about the lack of interaction with other characters this chapter, but more will come soon, so stay strong people! Also, I want to say thank-you to Foxonpie for giving me a link to the** ゴ **Symbol, I felt it added to the atmosphere, to be honest.**

 **In any case, I hope you all enjoyed and will toon in again to see how Joseph will handle this confrontation. Seeya!**


	6. Chapter 6

**And here is the new chapter! Well, I certainly hope you all enjoy the 22 pages worth of content I wrote up for you guys.**

 **Also, I apologize for the wait, I'm just not very good at consistently typing chapters up.**

 **Disclaimer: lolrus555 owns neither JoJo's Bizarre Adventure nor RWBY. They belong to Hirohiko Araki and Rooster Teeth respectively.**

 **Joseph Joestar: Hamon Hunter**

"...For the most part, all of the initiates seem to be making some good progress. At the rate they're going, they're bound to reach the temple within a few minutes." Glynda informed Ozpin as the latter watched the progress of the initiates on his scroll. The headmaster gave a simple hum to let Glynda know he was listening before looking back to the grey pad.

"However…" Glynda started up once more, getting Ozpin's attention. "There actually is one more initiate that has yet to partner up with anybody, but I think you already knew that." The veteran huntress explained, looking at the screen on the headmaster's scroll with an expression of annoyance. The screen was currently displaying Joseph frantically running away from a Tarantella that was roughly the size of a Deathstalker.

"Worry not Glynda, I already have something in mind for Mr. Joestar's team situation." Ozpin assured Glynda as he watched Joseph narrowly avoid getting impaled by one of the spider Grimm's pincers. the blonde instructor could only shake her head at the young man before looking to Ozpin questioningly.

"I'm still not sure what it is you see in that boy, professor. He's been nothing but rude, cocky, and dismissive since the day we encountered him, and if all those _**"special supplies"**_ (Ozpin couldn't help but shudder as Glynda mentioned this) you've given him are any indication, you only seem intent on spoiling him. Why?" Ozpin didn't say anything for a moment, only looking out to the horizon, before he let out a small sigh and looked towards his assistant.

"Glynda… I'm not sure if you've noticed, but there's something very unique about Mr. Joestar…"

"Oh believe me professor, It's only been a few days and I've noticed more than enough "unique" qualities about him than I'd like." The blonde huntress remarked dryly. The school headmaster could only let out a few muted chuckles at her dry tone before continuing.

"Negative qualities aside, you can't deny that Joseph has a lot of potential to be an amazing warrior. He is indeed brash, cocky, and… very difficult, but he's also incredibly smart, resourceful, and above all else: _**clever.**_ " Glynda could only raise an eyebrow upon hearing the headmaster's claims. He was surprisingly sure of himself on this matter.

"These traits, combined with that Ripple ability of his, could very well turn him into quite the force to be reckoned with. He just needs something to drive him, push him forward, so to say. And with any luck, his time here at this school will help him find something to fight for." However, even as he said this, both Ozpin and Glynda knew that wasn't the only reason for taking the cocky Joestar in. After taking a moment's thought to consider how he should word this, Ozpin continued. "And that's not even touching upon the extraordinary circumstances regarding his origins. Regardless of his potential as a hunter or whether his origins have any shred of truth to them, I think we can both agree that we couldn't have a young man who previously didn't exist in any government database just wander around Vale aimlessly."

"Well, I won't deny any of what you said regarding his origins, but even without that taken into account, you seem to have some strong faith that this young man will become quite the lethal force as a hunter." Glynda noted before she looked back to her own scroll. In response to this statement, a small smile graced the headmaster's lips.

"glynda, please, you make it sound like I'm picking favorites. While Mr. Joestar and Miss Rose in particular are quite note-worthy in this year's line-up of initiates, I have faith that all of them will go on to become fine warriors." Once Ozpin said this, he minimized his screen of Joseph to check the status of the other teams, specifically, the soon-to-be-formed teams RWBY and JNPR.

* * *

' _Okay, I am NOT having a good day!'_ Joseph grimly reflected as he finally made it out of the darkened part of the Emerald forest, the Giant Tarantella still hot on his trail.

' _First, that coffee drinking_ _ **hick**_ _launches me hundreds feet into the air, then I fall through a crap-ton of branches,_ _ **then**_ _I get chased around by pigs from hell, AND NOW I GOTTA DEAL WITH_ _ **THIS**_ _ASSHOLE! SERIOUSLY, DID I KILL SOMEBODY IN A PAST LIFE!? IS THIS WHOLE MESS GOD'S WAY OF GETTING BACK AT ME!?'_ Joseph could've spent even more time mentally cursing his fate and everybody around him, but he didn't have time for that! He needed all the brainpower he could muster to get this freaking spider off his back.

Thankfully, an answer to Joseph's predicament came sooner rather than later. As the Joestar continued running, he noticed that one of the trees up ahead was much taller than the rest, which was exactly what he needed. If he could make it up that tree before the Tarantella caught up, then he would simultaneously reach safety and finally get a good lay of the land. One big problem with Joseph's plan, however, would be that by the time he starts climbing, the Tarantella would already have caught up and be all too eager to impale him with one of it's giant, pointy legs. Of course, Joseph was quite used to improvising and planning things on the spot, and as such, already thought of a way around this issue.

' _Okay, tree bark has life in it, so this should work!... hopefully...'_ And with that thought in mind, Joseph began to channel Hamon into his fingertips as he ran. Once the tree came into his range, he leapt forward and pressed his fingertips onto the bark of the tree. Just as Joseph assumed, since the tree bark was a natural substance that had life in it, he was able to use his hamon to stick to the tree like glue, just like he did with that gigantic, oil-glistened pillar back on Air Supplena Island.

 ***CLICKCLICKCLICKCLICKCLICK***

 _ **'OH SHIT** **!** Better speed this up!'_ Upon remembering that the Tarantella was still closing in, Joseph decided to speed up his ascent up the tree. Forcing the lower half of his body upwards, the hamon practitioner front flipped up the tree, and, calling upon strength and power that he earned after a month of grueling hamon training, repeated this action several times, allowing him to gracefully front-flip up the tree. Upon realizing that he was high enough that the spider couldn't attack him, Joseph stuck the landing by landing feet-first on the nearest tree branch available.

"And he sticks the landing!" Joseph exclaimed triumphantly, raising both of his hands in a victory pose. Once he was finished congratulating himself for a job well done, the Joestar continued to ascend up the tree, determined to finally get a good lay of the land. After a few more moments of climbing and scaling the branches, Joseph finally managed to reach the top of the tree, allowing him to get a good look at the surrounding horizon.

"Man, this forest is huge! Where do I even start looking?" To Joseph's disappointment, there didn't appear to be any notable landmarks to point him in the right direction, only a sea of green all around.

"Urgh… What a let-down… now what am I gonna do…? I have no idea on what I'm even trying to find, where it is, or how I'm even gonna get down from-"

 ***FWOOSH***

"YOU IDIOOooooo…"

"...here…"

.

.

.

"...is that a giant bird…?"

Joseph finished offhandedly. It seemed that while he was trying to figure out what to do, what appeared to be a gigantic Grimm bird the size of a biplane flew past him. Once Joseph shook off the shock of what just happened, he also noticed some white and red on the back of this gigantic bird.

"Is that… Ruby and Weiss!? HOLY SHIT! Looks like they're riding in style! Lucky bastards..." It took Joseph a moment to recognize them, after all, the bird _was_ flying further and further away from him with each passing second, but there was no doubt about it, on the back of that flying Nevermore was that cute girl with the red hood as well as that pompous white-haired one.

"How'd they even get on that… thing's… back-!? Wait, what the hell is she doing?!" Despite the nevermore having flown a few miles away from his tree, Joseph could see the unfolding events as clear as day. Ruby appeared to have been trying to convince Weiss to do something with her, but she seemed adamant to disagree with her plan, whatever it was. When Ruby seemed to have realized that Weiss wouldn't budge on this matter, she got up from her spot on the back of the Nevermore and then proceeded to jump off the damn bird and fall towards the ground rapidly, ignoring the heiress's protests.

' _...Well, her jumping off that thing wouldn't be the craziest thing I've seen today, but I hope she knows what she's doing!'_ Joseph thought to himself, although the flailing of her arms and her distant screaming didn't inspire much faith in the muscular Joestar.

Thankfully, Joseph's faith in Ruby's survival was restored when what appeared to be Jaune came flying in from the distance out of nowhere and miraculously crashed into the girl mid fall, the impact sending the both of them crashing into some trees off in the distance. Joseph, who had been watching this entire event with some mixed curiosity and concern, gave a sigh of relief upon realizing his two new friends didn't get themselves killed.

Once the well-being of Jaune and Ruby was no longer his prime concern, Joseph decided to take a closer look at the area the girl was going to crash into before the blonde knight crashed into her. Upon closer examination, the Joestar noticed what seemed to be hints of grey among the all the green leaves.

' _BINGO! That must be where everybody's supposed to go! Thank you very much for your help, Ms. Rose! Now...'_ Joseph thought, now facing a new dilemma.

' _How am I even going to get over there…?'_ The brunette thought to himself. Getting to that structure on foot certainly wasn't an option because of his new, eight-legged friend, and even traveling by treetop was was risky considering the Tarantella was apparently hiding in the trees before Joseph ran into it.

' _C'mon Joestar, think! What do you have on you that could get you over to that grey structure and keep you from becoming spider chow?'_

.

.

.

.

"!"

After another moment of thorough thinking, a painfully obvious idea made it's way into the Joestar's head. Joseph could only mentally berate himself for not thinking of this sooner before he began to rip as many green leaves out of the tree as he could.

' _Well on the brighter side,'_ Joseph thought as he plucked more leaves from the tree, a smirk beginning to grow on his face. _'I always did want to try out air gliding.'_

* * *

"...Did your sister just fall from the sky?" Blake asked once the shock of what she just saw died down. Yang looked as though she was about to respond to her new teammate's question, but before she could, the sound of several crashing noises coming from the thick foliage caught their attention

" **GWORRR!"**

Suddenly, a gigantic Ursa burst out from the trees, wildly swinging it's claws about. However, before the two girls could get their weapons ready for a fight, a pink explosion struck the beast in the back, causing blood and bits of black fur to go flying everywhere before the Ursa fell to the ground, dead.

"Aw man! I think I broke it." It was at this point that the two took note of the orange-haired girl that apparently rode in on the Ursa's back, who was now examining the dead Grimm's carcass. While she was doing this, the companion of the girl, a boy in green with black hair and a single pink streak, came dashing up to her before he took a moment to catch his breath.

"Nora…!" The boy gasped, supporting his weight on the dead Ursa. "Please! Don't ever do that again..." The boy begged, clearly stressed out by his companion's antics. However, by the time he managed to catch his breath, the boy realized that he lost sight of Nora once again. Looking around to see where she had gone, the black-haired boy saw that she was already inside the ruins of the forest temple, trying to decide which chess piece she should take. She seemed to have settled on the golden Rook piece, if her excited gasping and triumphant pose was any indication.

"YAY! _I'm queen of the castle~! I'm queen of the castle~!"_ Nora sang happily, all the while getting down on one knee and triumphantly holding out her Rook piece to the heavens in a pose that would make Joseph proud.

"NORA!" The boy yelled out, bringing the… bizarre girl back to reality.

"Coming Ren!" Nora replied happily, giving her friend a salute as she went back to his side.

"...Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?" Blake asked once more, getting more and more confused by the second, although the calm look on her face betrayed her confusion.

"I-!"

Before Yang could even attempt to answer that question, the sound of another beast caught their attention once more. Looking to the left, the two girls saw the famous Pyrrha Nikos run out of a clutter of trees in the distance, a gigantic Deathstalker tailing her closely.

"Jaune!" The bright red-headed girl called out, barely ducking under one of the giant scorpion's claws.

"Pyrrha!?" The blonde boy called out, dangling upside down from one of the tree branches he got stuck in. Ruby, who got launched into the same tree as Jaune, jumped out of it when she saw her sister.

"Ruby!" Jaune whined, still unable to untangle himself.

"Yang!" Ruby said happily, about to give her big sister a hug.

"Ruby!" Yang replied, all too happy to give her little sis that hug.

"Nora!" Until Nora suddenly popped up between them, throwing the two sisters off guard.

 **"JOSEPH~!"** A voice from above suddenly called out, bringing everybody's attention to the source.

When the initiates looked up, they were surprised to see Joseph gliding down towards them, his hands somehow attached to a large bundle of leaves that were all stuck together in the shape of a hand glider, an odd yellow electricity radiating off them. When the muscular 17-year old touched down, the mass of leaves he was attached to fell apart, covering him in green foliage.

"DOJYA~~N!" Joseph suddenly exclaimed in a deliberately guttural and raspy voice, extending both his arms with his palms facing the sky.

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"...I'm here now!" The Joestar said when everybody just gave him a long stare of confusion.

"Did… Did you just…? Where did you even come from?" Blake asked when she finally managed to regain her voice.

"Oh! well, first I-"

"ALRIGHT, THAT'S IT!" Yang suddenly yelled, her eyes flashing red and fire bursting everywhere in wake of her outburst. At this point, everybody's attention was now drawn to the irate blonde girl.

"I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE! CAN EVERYONE JUST CHILL OUT FOR _**TWO SECONDS**_ BEFORE SOMETHING CRAZY HAPPENS _AGAIN_!?" And just like that, everyone present did exactly what Yang told them to. And as such, a whole two seconds passed with complete and utter silence.

"Uh… Yang?"

And when those two seconds _**did**_ pass, all hell subsequently broke loose.

Looking to where Ruby was pointing, which was in the sky, the group of initiates saw Weiss dangling for her life on the talon of the flying nevermore.

"How could you just leave me here!?" The angry heiress screamed as loud as she could, her voice barely able to be heard thanks to how high up in the sky she was.

"Well, I said 'Jump'!" Ruby yelled back. Weiss would've responded with something along the lines of "YOU'RE A F #$ING IDIOT!" but before she could even attempt to say this, her grip on the Nevermore's talon began to weaken.

"She's gonna fall." Blake said simply.

"Oh, she'll be fine!" Ruby reassured the black-haired girl with closed eyes and a smile, having complete and utter faith in her white-haired partner.

"She's falling." Ren mentioned, and true to his word, Weiss's grip finally slipped and she began to plummet towards the ground.

"OH GOD, somebody do something and catch her!" Joseph exclaimed, unable to do anything other than fruitlessly cover his eyes in preparation for what was bound to be a messy landing. Fortunately, Weiss' fall was softened when Jaune, who had finally untangled himself from the tree, lept off from the tree's branch and towards Weiss, somehow managing to catch her in the nick of time.

They still plummeted towards the ground, mind you! But Jaune's sudden intervention managed to soften Weiss' fall. While this admittedly comical event happened, Pyrrha finally managed to evade the Death Stalker long enough to regroup with the others, although she was far more disheveled from running so much.

"Hi there, name's Joseph Joestar. Nice to meetcha." Joseph introduced himself casually, his previous panic completely forgotten, to the slouched over girl, who still struggled to catch her breath.

"...Pyrrha…*GASP!*...Nikos…" Pyrrha managed between gasps, collapsing momentarily once her exhaustion finally caught up to her.

"Great! The gang's all here! Now we can die together!" Yang joked dryly, the Deathstalker closing in on them.

"Hey, hey, let's not jump to downer conclusions like that from the get-go" Joseph interjected as he examined the approaching Death Stalker, an analytical look on his face. "We just need to think up a plan. These things aren't very smart, so they should be easy to trap."

However, Ruby seemed to prefer a more forward approach, if her readying Crescent Rose was any indication.

"Not if I can help it!" And with that, the silver-eyed girl brandished her scythe and rushed the gigantic scorpion, ignoring Joseph's protests and Yang's pleas for her to stop. As she did this, Ruby fired a few shots from behind to speed up her charge speed. However, as she went in to slash the Death Stalker's head, the creature merely swiped at her when she came into it's range, sending the girl sprawling onto the ground.

"D-Don't worry! Totally fine!" Ruby reassured everybody hastily as she got up, although the tone in her voice made Joseph think otherwise.

"Ruby!" Yang yelled, quickly running over to aid her sister.

"Jesus christ!" Joseph yelled as another person rushed off without a plan. "Am I the only one around here that ever tries to plan shit out before rushing into danger!?" And with that yell of frustration, Joseph quickly followed after Yang to help her save Ruby. However, before the two could reach the scythe wielding girl, a series of gigantic, sharpened feathers, courtesy of the still-flying Nevermore, suddenly came flying down, lodging themselves in the ground, cutting Yang and Joseph off from Ruby, and getting some of the silver-eyed girl's cape stuck to the ground.

"Ruby, get out of there!" Yang urged, trying to get past the feathers.

"I'm trying!" Ruby yelled back to her, trying desperately to free her cloak to no avail. While she did this, the Death Stalker began to rear up it's tail, ready to impale it's helpless prey.

' _Oh shit!'_ Joseph thought as he also tried to get past the feathers. _'This isn't good! I've got no way to reach her! No good ideas! No way to help her! No way to-'_ However, the Joestar's train of thought was cut off when he saw something white rush past him and Yang.

' _What's that?'_

Joseph immediately got an answer when the white blur came to a stop, revealing it to be Weiss. Right before the Death Stalker managed to pierce Ruby, she used her rapier to encase the Grimm's entire body in ice. Once it was clear that the Death Stalker couldn't cause any immediate damage in it's state, the Heiress began to say something to Ruby. Joseph couldn't hear much of it from this distance, but from what he gathered, it seemed that the two of them would start getting along now.

When they finished talking, Weiss began to head back to the temple to collect her artifact while Ruby stayed behind for a moment to take in the frozen Death Stalker.

Giving Yang enough time to rush over to her and give her a bone-crushing hug of relief.

"So," Joseph began as he walked up to the sisters. "What do you say we do about this big guy, here?" He asked, referring to the Death Stalker, which was currently struggling to break out of the ice.

"Eh, we should just leave it there while we can." Yang dismissed, finally releasing her suffocating sister.

"WHAT!? We have a chance to get this thing off our backs and you just want to leave it here!?" Joseph asked incredulously, unable to understand why nobody present wouldn't try to capitalize on the vulnerable state the Grimm was in.

"What, do you have a better idea?" Yang asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow at the Joestar.

"As a matter of fact, yes I do!" Joseph huffed before he began to examine the ice which encased the Death Stalker. "You guys go on ahead, I'll catch up once I take care of our new pal." He told them, tapping the ice with his knuckle.

"Alright, if you say so." Yang replied, shrugging her shoulders as she walked back to the forest temple. Ruby was about to follow her before she looked to Joseph.

"Once you finish with that, try to hurry back to the temple and pick out an artifact, alright? We won't leave without you." Ruby told Joseph, who just offhandedly gave her a thumbs up as he continued to examine the Death Stalker. Ruby could only give the Joestar a smile in response before she followed after Yang.

After taking a moment to rub his fingers against the ice, and taking note of the moisture that accumulated on his finger tips in wake of doing so, a cocky smile began to show on Joseph's face.

"Well buddy," Joseph began, placing his hand on the ice. "After a thorough examination, I can now say with confidence that ice created by dust is just like any other kind of ice. You know what that means?"

 **"kooohhhhhh..."**

"IT MEANS THAT YOU'RE ENCASED IN A HIGHLY **HAMON CONDUCTIVE MATERIAL!** "

" _ **ICE WHITE OVERDRIVE!"**_

And with that, Joseph began to overcharge the ice with a surplus of Hamon. Similar to the icicles Joseph used to save himself from falling to his death, by overcharging frozen water with Hamon, this caused the energy to course through the ice, entering any other substance it was in contact with.

Considering there was a living being encased in this ice, this meant the Hamon could easily carry over to the Death Stalker, regardless of how thick it's outer armor was.

Joseph continued to flood Hamon into the ice until the excess of the energy caused the Death Stalker trapped inside to implode. The following results proved to be quite messy, with with body parts, shards of ice, and various other nasty extremities flying everywhere.

"Ugh…" Joseph groaned, thankful the Hamon didn't cause the ice to melt. "That's pretty volatile. But on the brighter side, that's one less monster to deal with!"

 ***CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK***

However, as soon as the hamon practitioner said that, he began to hear a very familiar clicking noise.

"...and another one to take it's place." Joseph groaned in annoyance, looking to the source of the sound. To his dismay, he saw the same Tarantella from before break through the cluster of trees in the distance, it's sights set on him. Thankfully, Joseph and the spider Grimm had about a mile of distance between each other, but at the rate it was going, it wouldn't be long before it caught up.

"I… better warn the others before that thing catches up." Joseph said to himself, running back to the forest temple to regroup with the others.

* * *

By the time Joseph made it back to the others, the Nevermore was beginning to close in on them.

"Alright, so here's the thing everyone." Joseph began, getting everybody's attention. "I've got some good news and some bad news. What do you all want to hear first?"

"Well, I guess good news, that way, the bad news will hurt less?" Ruby suggested.

"My thoughts exactly!" Joseph agreed. "Alright, so the good news is, I took care of our giant scorpion problem." He explained, getting some relieved sighs from the group.

"And the bad news?" Ren asked, causing Joseph to grimace. "Well… the thing is, an old... let's say spindly friend of mine kind of showed up to take his place…" He explained, pointing towards the approaching Tarantella.

"Oh man! Now what're we gonna do!? It's closing in!" Jaune whined, not at all liking the idea of having to fight something as creepy as that spider.

"Damn it all, I was hoping it wouldn't have to come to this…" Before anybody could suggest anything, Joseph's voice caught their attention. Currently, the Joestar was taking a look at all the remaining artifacts, trying to decide which one he should take.

"Just what are you going on about now?" Weiss asked skeptically, crossing her arms as she looked at the spikey-haired brunet.

"What I'm saying is that my hand's been forced, and now I'm gonna have to resort to my _**final technique!**_ " Joseph uttered, determination clear in his voice.

"A final technique?" Joseph, what are you talking about?" Blake asked, causing Joseph to sigh in frustration.

"Alright, I want all of you to listen up!" The brunette suddenly yelled, turning towards the other eight initiates. "Earlier this year, I managed to develop a near unbeatable technique that when used, almost always guarantees victory, no matter how impossible the odds may be!" He explained passionately.

"I call it **The Joestar Secret Technique!** It's a strategy that's been so successful that I intend to pass it down the Joestar family for generations to come! And considering the circumstances, I'll be willing to share this technique with all of you as well!" At this point, Joseph pretty much caught everybody's attention. What could this technique possibly be that would make the Joestar so confident it would lead them to victory? Even Professor Ozpin and Goodwitch, who were watching the unfolding events through their scrolls, were curious as to what this "Secret Technique" was.

"Alright, so what is it!? What do we have to do!?" Ruby asked excitedly, wondering what kind of crazy attack strategy this secret technique would involve.

"However! Just keep one thing in mind!" Joseph yelled once more, his suddenly stern face looking over everybody present. "This is something that you'll all have to do for _**yourselves**_! Once we begin, you'll all have to keep this up until your final breath, GOT IT!?"

"Just tell us what to do and we'll do it Joseph!" Jaune interjected, looking back at the closing in Tarantella with dread. Now, all eyes were on Joseph, curiosity gnawing at all of them.

At this point, Joseph had to repress a few muted chuckles as a cocky smile made it's way onto his face. After suppressing his laughter, the trickster of the Joestar bloodline then proceeded to show everybody what his famous final move consisted of.

"RUN FOR YOUR LIIIIIVES!"

Which involved Joseph picking an artifact at random and running in the opposite direction of the Nevermore and Tarantella. **(0)**

* * *

Back at the cliffs, Ozpin spat out his coffee in surprise and pure bafflement while Ms. Goodwitch continued to watch the unfolding events in shocked silence.

* * *

Back with the rest of the initiates, there was a moment of complete and utter silence. Nobody felt they could say anything, and only watched as the Joestar retreated, his ridiculous running style clear for all to see.

"Well... that was kind of a letdown..." Ruby managed when she regained her voice, more than a little underwhelmed.

Weiss on the other hand, had a much more colorful way of expressing her bafflement.

"IS HE FUCKING SERIOUS!? After all that build up, that this 'secret technique' of his was going to be a sure-fire way to achieve victory, it just consists of running like an idiot!?" It was at this point that Blake decided to intervene.

"He's actually got the right idea," The yellow-eyed girl explained as she watched Joseph's retreating form. Despite how absurd his running style looked, he was actually going quite fast. "We just need to collect the artifacts and return to the cliffs, there's no reason for us to fight these things."

"Well what're we waiting for!?" Ruby spoke up, brandishing her knight artifact for all to see. "We've already got our artifacts, let's get going!" Everybody else seemed to agree with Ruby's suggestion and began to run after Joseph, who was fortunately heading in the direction of the old temple ruins, the best area to get back up to the cliffs. Before she left, Yang took a moment to smile at her sister taking charge like this before joining Blake and following after everyone else.

' _I knew you had it in you, sis.'_

* * *

"Woah, what is this place?" Joseph asked himself as he slowed to a stop. After a few moments of blindly running, the Joestar ended up in front of a series of old ruins that were pressed up against the cliff. Joseph also noticed that somehow, the ruins somehow managed to stay intact despite dangling over a gigantic white abyss.

"Joseph! Look alive!" Blake's voice suddenly called out, indicating that she and the other's finally caught up to Joseph.

 ***THWIPTHWIPTHWIP***

"OH SHIT!" Turns out that the black haired girl wasn't warning Joseph for no reason either. The Nevermore, which had been stalking after the main group suddenly flew by them and launched more pointed feathers at them. Once he saw the projectiles coming towards his direction, Joseph instinctively dashed towards one of the stone pillars which had been scattered throughout the area and used it as cover.

"Nora distract it!" Ren called out to his orange-haired friend, who was more than happy to oblige. Pulling out her pink colored grenade launcher, Nora began to distract the bird by firing a flurry of pink-colored explosions at it, causing it to temporarily retreat.

 ***CLACKCLACKCLACK***

While she was doing this, Nora seemed to be completely unaware of the Tarantella that was coming up behind her at a surprisingly brisk pace.

"HEY! BEHIND YOU MORON!" Joseph called out to the blissfully unaware Nora, who was still firing at the retreating Nevermore. Swearing under his breath, Joseph took out one of his clackers and winded them up with Hamon before he launched it at the giant spider.

" **CLACKER BOOMERANG!"**

The hamon charged clackers hit the Tarantella square in the face, and it seemed Joseph wasn't the only one that decided to intervene either, for as soon as the clackers connected with the spider's face, Blake and Ren simultaneously came down from opposite directions and sliced at the Tarantella in a X formation. The combined force of their attacks together managed to phase the giant spider.

While the creature was stunned, Weiss quickly came down and picked up Nora before using a Glyph to speed the both of them towards the stone bridge leading to the ruins. With Nora now out of the Tarantella's range, Joseph, Blake, and Ren all quickly followed the other's towards the bridge, but not before Joseph retrieved his clackers, which came flying back towards him once they hit that Tarantella.

' _Alright, nearly there!'_ Joseph thought as he and the other's began to cross the bridge, unaware of the Nevermore that was speeding towards them. By the time any of them noticed the giant bird, it was too late. The monster proceeded to crash into the bridge, forcing Ruby, Yang, Weiss, Jaune, and Nora onto the other side, Ren, Blake, and Pyrrha to the beginning, which was where the Tarantella was, and Joseph, who was right in the middle, to crash and fall into the white abyss below.

' _Dammit!'_ Joseph mentally screamed before a hunk of stone from the broken bridge hit him square in the forehead, causing him to blackout.

* * *

"Oh no! JOSEPH!" Jaune yelled, horrified at what he was witnessing. While everybody was crossing the bridge, that giant Nevermore decided to wreck the stone structure while everybody was still crossing it, separating the group, and sending one of the first friendly people Jaune met at this academy flying towards the white abyss below.

"Oh god! Nora, do you think you can catch him!?" Jaune looked desperately towards the orange haired girl, hoping that she could pull off some crazy acrobatics to save his friend.

"He's… he's out of my range! I won't be able to catch him!" Nora uttered, shock and disbelief at the concept that this funnily dressed boy she just met might actually die.

' _Oh god, this can't be happening! This can't be happening! Please tell me you're just faking this Joseph, that you've got some trick up your sleeve to get you out of this!'_ Jaune thought desperately, hoping that Joseph would suddenly snap up and go "Just kidding!" before using a grappling hook or something to get back onto solid ground.

"Come on! Wake up!" Jaune cried out desperately as Joseph continued to fall. "Do something man! MOVE!"

And as though fate was answering the blonde boy's calls, something within Joseph began to move, or in this case, _**awaken**_.

Suddenly, just as Joseph passed one of the stone protrusions on one of the legs of the bridge, the impossible happened. Out of nowhere, _**a series of dark purple, thorny vines**_ suddenly flew out of the Joestar's body and wrapped themselves around one of the stone fall guards of the bridge. The vines seemed to be very durable, as they were able to support Joseph's weight very easily, and were able to save him from what would've been his imminent demise.

"What the…?" Jaune muttered, his eyes widening as he watched the muscular brunette dangle over the white abyss. _'Is… Is that his semblance?'_ However, before the blonde could make any further attempt to decipher what those purple vines were, the sound of Blake, Ren, and Pyrrha's battle with the Tarantella brought him back to reality.

"I'll worry about that later! Nora, we need to get over there and help them!" Jaune told Nora.

"Let's do this!" Nora said, determined and brandishing her weapon in it's grenade launcher form.

"Yeah! But, uh… I can't make that jump…" Jaune mentioned after he looked down into the white abyss, looking very apprehensive. This comment caused an evil smile to creep onto Nora's face. She then proceeded to turn her weapon into a full-length hammer before jumping to the edge of the bridge.

"Wait what're you-! Wait, no no nononoNOOO!" Ignoring Jaune's protests, Nora swung her hammer onto the bridge, breaking it apart and sending the blonde knight flying to the other side, screaming all the while. Once she saw Jaune make it across, Nora then used her hammer's grenade launcher to propel herself across as well, her gleeful expression contrasting greatly with the look of terror that had been on the blonde's face.

* * *

"Huh!?... urgh… must've blacked out for a second… there!? What the hell!?" It took Joseph a second before he realized that he was hanging upside-down over the gaping white abyss of death.

"This shit again!? What the hell keeps saving me from these nasty falls!?" Joseph muttered to himself, quickly looking upwards (or downwards, considering his positioning) to see what was holding him up, and this time, he got an answer. When he looked up, he saw the thorny purple vines that were sprouting out of his body and wrapped around the bridge.

"V-Vines!? My body is sprouting thorny vines?! OH! MY! GOD!"

Before Joseph could freak out any further, however, the sound of fighting back up on the cliff caught his attention.

"Ah geeze, they're probably in the middle of fighting that damn spider! I gotta get up there and help them… and I think I have a pretty fast means of getting there too…" Technically speaking, Joseph probably could've just climbed up these weird purple vines and he would've eventually gotten up there. But time was of the essence! If he took his leisurely time getting up there, then somebody would likely get killed! Which was why Joseph figured it was time to break out his **emergency supplies.**

* * *

"This thing's really starting to get on my nerves." Ren muttered as he continued to pepper the Tarantella with Stormflower's bullets. The creature's strong plating prevented any of the bullets from doing any meaningful damage, but at the very least provided the initiates some breathing room.

"Any ideas guys?" Pyrrha asked as she parried another one of the Tarantella's legs with Akouo. The Tarantella was very durable, but fortunately for them wasn't suited for direct combat. It was a creature that preferred to capture it's prey from the shadows and feast on it when there was no chance of it getting away. However, despite being out of it's element, the spider Grimm was doing a surprisingly good job against the four.

"Try aiming for the joints on it's legs! They're bound to be less durable than the main body!" Jaune suggested, ducking under another swipe of the Tarantella's legs and blocking an attempt to impale him with it's leg. The other's seemed to agree that was the best option currently as well.

 ***BOOM***

Before anybody could act on Jaune's plan, the sound of something blowing up underneath the bridge caught their attention.

 ***FWIP* "WOOOOO-HO-HO-HOOOO!"**

Out of nowhere, a large, blue blur suddenly flew up the side of the bridge and caught everybody's attention. When the blur came to a brief stop high above the Tarantella, it suddenly threw a series of multicolored objects at the giant spider. The objects appeared to be various dust crystals that had a bright yellow electricity sparking all over them. When they came into contact with the Tarantella, they proceeded to blow up in an explosion of ice, wind, and fire, causing the Grimm spider to recoil backwards in pain. While this was happening, the blue figure finally fell feet-first on onto the bridge, giving everybody a clear look at him. Standing in front of them was Joseph's caped visage, dust crystals of various colors clenched in his hands.

"Alright you ugly son of a bitch! Let's see how you like a taste of a hamon-fueled dust crystal!" Joseph yelled as he threw a bright orange dust crystal at the tarantella.

" **LAVA DUST OVERDRIVE!"**

Once the sparking dust crystal hit the Tarantella, it blew up like all the others, but unlike the others, lava began to flow out of this crystal in wake of it's explosion, burning and eating away at the screeching monster's armor-like body plating. Now that the Tarantella was out of the way, at least temporarily, Joseph turned towards the rest of the temple ruins and saw Ruby, Yang, Blake, and Weiss' duel with the giant Nevermore atop the ruins.

Now, at this point, however, plenty of you are likely wondering just what Joseph did to allow himself to fly into the air like he did. To put it in layman's terms, the Joestar simply took out a wind dust crystal, built up some momentum by swinging back and forth, and after enough time, crushed the crystal against the stone support of the bridge, using the ensuing explosion's recoil to send him flying back up in record time.

"Alright, so here's the thing!" Joseph told the others, who were still moderately surprised by his sudden intervention. "I managed to soften that thing up for you all, and I have no doubt that the lot of you are very capable people! So in the mean time, I'm gonna do what I can to help the others out against that overgrown pigeon, got it!?" Without waiting for an answer, the Joestar began to sprint towards the edge of bridge.

"Wait! What're you doing!?" Pyrrha called out, eyes widening in alarm. "How are you even going to get over-!?" But before Pyrrha could finish her sentence, Joseph then proceeded to leap off the bridge and extend his arm. As soon as he did that, the same purple vines that Jaune and Nora saw sprouting out of Joseph earlier came sprawling out of his palm and wrapped around one of the many pieces of the ruins, allowing the Joestar to use the momentum he gained to go swinging towards the upper portion of the temple ruins.

The soon-to-be formed team of hunters where confused by what they just witnessed, but decided to focus on more pressing matters, namely, the gigantic Grimm spider. Now that the lava the dust crystal created finally dissolved, the group could finally take in the damage it did to the Tarantella. The lava seemed to have burned away the outer layer of bone and skin the spider had as armor, leaving it very angry and in a lot of pain.

"Pyrrha, Nora!" Jaune called out to the two girls. "Ren and I will focus on getting rid of this thing's legs and keeping it still, you two just focus on landing a direct blow to it's body!" And with that order, Jaune and Ren sprung into action.

Going to opposite sides of the creature, the two of them dodged the Tarantella's various attempts to impale and slash at them sprinted past and around their legs, making sure to do some lasting damage. Ren was currently using his pistols to take pot-shots at the joints of the spider's legs, specifically where they were unguarded, and Jaune was doing much of the same, parrying and dodging the attacks the Tarantella with surprising expertise and slashing at it's joints whenever there was an opening. Seeing that they were gradually doing a number on the monster and beginning to weaken it, the two boys decided now was the time to deliver the decisive blow.

"Ren, now! Go for it's forelegs!" Jaune ordered, sprinting up to the frontmost limbs of the spider and jumping towards it, readying his sword for a final strike.

"Understood!" Ren nodded, reverting Stormflower to it's blade form and doing much of the same on his side.

" _ **HIIII-YA!"**_

At the same time, the two of them slashed clean through the joints in the Tarantella's forelegs, sending the screeching creature's front half down to the ground. The monster made a few feeble attempts to get itself back upright, but they all ended in failure. Honestly, the spider almost looked pitiable in it's current state.

"PYRRHA! NORA! GO FOR IT!"

Unfortunately for the Tarantella, when fighting against the Grimm, hunters and huntresses can't afford to be merciful against the creatures that want to eliminate mankind.

Taking their cue, Pyrrha readied her shield and allowed Nora to jump onto it like a platform. Wasting no time, the orange-haired girl slammed the top of her hammer down onto the shield, activating a grenade as she did so and sending her flying high into the air. As she flew down towards the body of the Tarantella, Nora swung her hammer down as she did so, and with a mighty _***CRUNCH*,**_ completely decimated the spider Grimm's skull. For good measure, Nora also fired a grenade round into it's skull, which blew up the spider Grimm completely, and by extension, their part of the bridge, sending the four flying onto the other side of the bridge and into the old ruins.

* * *

"HOLY SHIT, THIS IS AWESOME!" Joseph screamed gleefully as he swung swung through the open ruins with his _**Hermit Purple**_. Joseph wasn't exactly sure about why he suddenly decided to name the series of vines that were sprouting out of his body, or where he came up with that name is particular, but the name 'Hermit Purple' just felt _right_ for some reason.

Once Joseph made it up to higher ground, he began to hear Ruby giving Yang, Blake, and Weiss some orders. From what Joseph could see, the gigantic Raven Grimm was stuck to the ground via it's frozen tail and Blake was tossing a part of her grappling-hook weapon over to Yang while Ruby stood in between them, essentially forming a giant sling-shot. By the looks of it, the girls were intending to launch Ruby into that monster with the intention of slicing it's head off with her scythe. All in all, it seemed like a solid plan.

 ***Ker-RACK***

However, before the four girls could initiate their plan, the sound of something cracking caught the attention of everybody present. Looking over to the source, they saw that the Nevermore, in a burst of sudden strength, managed to free it's tail from the ice.

"Weiss, do you think you can freeze it's tail back in place!?" Ruby yelled to her white-haired companion, hoping they could still pull off their plan.

"I'm not sure if I can do it a second time, but I'll try!" Weiss responded, already aligning the tip of her rapier with the Nevermore's tail. However, before the heiress could make the shot, Joseph's voice broke her concentration.

"Don't worry about that!" Once Joseph said this, he called out Hermit purple and wrapped the thorny vines around the gigantic bird. This action caused the four to look towards Joseph in surprise, none of them expecting his sudden appearance nor the strange thorny vines that were protruding out his body

"I'll make sure this flying rat stays nice and still for you girls! _**HERMIT PURPLE OVERDRIVE!**_ " And with that hot-blooded yell, Joseph began to surge hamon through the vines and into the entangled Nevermore, causing the wrapped up Grimm to screech in agony. It was strange, Joseph still wasn't entirely sure what these strange vines that were sprouting out of his body even were, but at the same time, everything he'd done so far with them felt perfectly natural, like they were an extension of his body.

"WELL, WHAT'RE YOU WAITING FOR!? ICE-COLD DRINKS!?" Joseph barked when he noticed the girls were still watching him and not continuing with their plan. "HURRY IT UP AND DO WHATEVER IT IS YOU WERE GONNA DO! I'M NOT SURE IF ANY OF YOU HAVE NOTICED, BUT THIS ISN'T EXACTLY EASY!" While Joseph was far more experienced in controlling his hamon now than he was a few months ago, generating a constant stream of the energy to keep a beast so large in place wasn't easy in the slightest. His breath was already starting to grow ragged and there were sweat beads the size of bullets all over him.

"You heard the man, let's go!" Yang spoke up, getting back into position. Once everything was back into place, Weiss spawned a glyph behind Ruby with her Semblance.

"Y'know, I think only you would be able to think up an idea like this." Weiss commented as she readied her Glyph. "...Well, you and Mr. "Run for you life!" down there." She added as an afterthought.

"Think you can make the shot?" Ruby asked as she gripped Crescent Rose tightly.

"Can I?" She asked rhetorically, an amused smile on her face.

.

.

.

"can you?" Ruby asked after a second.

"Of course I can!" And with that, the color of Weiss's Glyph shifted from black to red before sending Ruby flying, the Glyph causing her to go at a speed so fast that the ground behind her launch site cracked from the sheer force. This was only made more profound by the rose petals that the silver-eyed girl's semblance left in her wake. Firing shots from her rifle to increase her speed even more so, Ruby's scythe got caught on the Nevermore's neck just as Joseph's Hamon was beginning to weaken. Letting out a mighty cry, she began to speed up the cliff as quickly as possible, Weiss's glyphs making her go even faster, with the gigantic monster still caught on her scythe. She continued her ascent, firing more and more shots to go even quicker, up until she hit the edge of the cliff. Firing one last shot, Ruby flew up into the air, all the while having decapitated the Nevermore, sending it's head flying along with her and the body falling back down the cliff, where it disappeared into the white abyss at the bottom

"Man! Very nice Rubes!" Joseph applauded, looking up the cliff, as he walked towards the silver-eyed girls teammates, who were giving Ruby similar looks of awe and impress. "Looks like you're pretty good at making shit up on the fly!"

"Yeah... my sister's one of a kind!" Yang noted with a big smile before she, Blake, and Weiss looked towards Joseph and noted the various purple vines that were still sprouting out of his body.

"Ah, so you guys can see **Hermit Purple** too? Guess I'm not going nuts after all." Joseph noted as he checked to see if these vines did any damage to his body. Fortunately, it seemed that whatever Hermit Purple was, using it wouldn't harm his body.

" **Hermit Purple** …?" Blake said after a moment.

"Yeah, that's what I've decided to call these vines." **(1)** Joseph explained, sprouting three of the thorny vines in the palm of his hand to get his point across. "Anyway, any idea what the hell it's even supposed to be?" Now that the adrenaline finally wore down, Joseph realized that a bunch of thorny vines sprouting out of his body probably wasn't normal.

"Well if I had to guess, your _'Hermit Purple'_ is probably your semblance." Weiss spoke up, stating the most plausible explanation. "So… congratulations on awakening it, I suppose." The heiress managed. She still wasn't sure whether or not she even liked the muscular teen or not, but he _did_ help them take out that Nevermore, so at the very least, he gained a little bit of respect in Weiss' book. Although she couldn't help but note how strange it was that he apparently hadn't unlocked his semblance before coming to Beacon, if his current confusion was any indication...

"So your semblance let's you sprout a bunch of thorny vines, huh? Not gonna lie Joseph, that's a pretty lame power." Yang teased, causing the Joestar to huff indignantly.

"Oh! So, it's gonna be like that huh!? Well I'm not sure if you noticed, but my 'lame' vines certainly helped pull your asses out of the fire!" Joseph retorted, jabbing a finger at the blonde girl.

"Eh, lucky shot." Yang dismissed, brushing the finger out of her face before walking off.

"WHAT!? 'Luck shot' my ass!"

The back and forth between the two more or less continued all the way back to Beacon, which was made surprisingly easy when the old ruins revealed a passage up the cliff.

* * *

"...God, this is boring!" Joseph groaned as he took his cap off and ran a hand through his hair. So far, the last hour had been spent just announcing the names of a bunch of teams the Joestar couldn't give a crap about, and at this point, his patience was beginning to wear thin.

"Will you stop complaining and pay attention!? It's almost over!" Weiss scolded, and Joseph could only shrug his shoulders disinterestedly in response. Deciding to think back to what happened when the nine of them made it back to Beacon.

When they all made it back, they were all requested to turn their artifacts in. It turned out that Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang ended up collecting some golden knight pieces while Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren collected a set of golden Rook pieces, and Joseph himself realized that he collected a golden Bishop piece before he ran away from those monsters. In wake of all this, the brunette wasn't exactly sure what this meant for him and his alleged team set up, but he supposed he would find out soon enough.

"Russel Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark." Ozpin began, referring to the group of imposing armored boys that were standing on stage with their hands behind their back. If Joseph recalled correctly, that big guy with the brown crew-cut was the same guy Joseph stood next to when he got launched off that cliff.

"The four of you have retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as team CRDL, led by… Cardin Winchester!" As the round of applause came out for the newly announced team, they then proceeded to make their way off the stage while Jaune, Nora, Ren, and Pyrrha walked up the stage next.

"Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie. The four of you have retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as team JNPR, led by… Jaune Arc!" This statement was what caught Joseph's attention.

' _So Jauney boy is gonna be in charge of this team, huh?'_ Joseph thought. Truth be told, he honestly wasn't expecting this outcome when he thought of whatever team Jaune was gonna be on. While Jaune was certainly a nice guy, he wasn't exactly what Joseph called 'A gallant and confident leader.' From the look on Jaune's face, he seemed even more surprised than Joseph about this announcement.

' _Well,'_ Joseph thought with a shrug of his shoulders. _'Maybe I'm not giving him enough credit. From what the Pyrrha chick told me, he was the one who played the biggest part in finishing off that damn spider.'_ In the end, he figured that Jaune would likely do fine in leading Team JNPR. The newly formed team was about to head down the stage until Ozpin stopped them.

"I would like you all to remain here for the time being. I have an important announcement that concerns you and the final team I'm going to announce." The headmaster explained. The members of team JNPR looked curious as to what this announcement was going to be, but did as they were told and held off the questions till later.

"And finally," Ozpin began as Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang walked on stage. "Blake Belladonna. Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Yang Xiao Long. The four of you have retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forwards, you will work together as team RWBY. Led by… Ruby Rose!" Amid all the loud cheering, Joseph can clearly see the look of surprise on Weiss' face, the look of shock on Ruby's, and Yang's look of pride as she gives her sister a tight hug.

"I'm so proud of you!" Yang exclaimed happily. Ozpin could only smile at the display and all the cheering before he continued.

"Now, there's still one more thing to say regarding our final initiate." Ozpin began, gesturing for Joseph to come onto the stage.

"Joseph Joestar," Ozpin continued when Joseph walked on stage. "You ended up proving to be a special case regarding the team setups this year. The only students you ran into during your initiation were the ones that already had their teams assembled, and not only that, but you were the only initiate to retrieve one of the _**white bishop**_ pieces **(2)**." Ozpin stopped his explanation briefly to look over both Joseph and the two assembled teams on stage.

"As such, I've came up with a temporary solution until we can find you three other teammates. until further notice, you will now be acting as a fifth team member for both Team RWBY and Team JNPR for the rest of your time at Beacon." Ozpin finished.

"Wait... _he's_ going to be on our team too!?" Weiss asked Ozpin, clearly bewildered.

"Really now?" Joseph asked before he looked towards the surprised Team RWBY and JNPR with a smile.

"well in that case, I have something I need to tell you guys! Since we're now gonna be all buddy-buddy in this academy from here on out, you're all welcome to call me JoJo! I don't let many people call me that, so you all better be grateful! And you!" Suddenly, Joseph put Ruby in an headlock out of nowhere.

"Congrats on becoming leader Rubes! I knew you had it in you! Same goes to you too, Jauney boy!" Joseph congratulated as he playfully gave the caped girl a noogie.

"Oh god! you're worse than Yang!" Ruby choked out as Joseph grinded his knuckles against her head playfully.

"Hey! Only I'm allowed to do that to her! Go grind your knuckles against Jaune's head or something!"

"...please leave me out of this."

"It certainly looks like things are shaping up to be an… interesting year." Ozpin noted amid the cheering.

* * *

 **JoJo/RWBY database**

 **Young Joseph Joestar's Hermit Purple**

 **STATS**

 **Destructive Power: E** (B if Hamon is transmitted into it.)

 **Speed: C**

 **Range: B** (3)

 **Durability: A**

 **Precision: D**

 **Developmental potential: E**

 **Relatively simple in concept, Hermit Purple's abilities could initially be dismissed as rather weak, but in the hands of somebody like Joseph, it becomes a surprisingly powerful weapon. Able to use the vines like an extension of his body, Joseph can transmit Hamon energy through the vines and into whatever it has wrapped up, essentially making the vines as dangerous as live wiring. Not only that, but the vines are incredibly durable, able to support Joseph's weight to the point that he can use Hermit Purple like a grappling hook to swing around.**

 **Hermit purple's abilities consist of spirit photography and scanning the area. Joseph can use the vines on any form of electronic devices to gain a variety of intel on the person he's focusing on. Joseph can also use Hermit Purple scan the surrounding area, effectively extending his vision. Finally, Hermit Purple's vines can also create a map of the area if the user has access to a malleable material.**

* * *

 **(0)...who** _ **didn't**_ **see that coming from a mile away?**

 **(1)Yeah, I'm not gonna beat around the bush here. I could've given Hermit Purple some crazy music reference for it's name, but I didn't. Wanna know why? Because I like the name Hermit Purple. It's as simple as that.**

 **(2)Man! I'm gonna look really fucking stupid if we meet a team formed around the white bishop pieces in volume 3.**

 **(3)Not gonna lie, I kinda think Hermit Purple's range is bullshit. I mean, Joseph used that thing like a fucking grappling hook in Stardust Crusaders. Not only that, but his spirit photography allowed him to get a picture of DIO in Egypt when he was in fucking Japan! D level range my ass! Thankfully, I can just say that Hermit Purple's range is longer here because Joseph is younger, so there! problem solved.**

 **Alright, so I hope you all enjoyed. I think I managed to do a good job of giving everybody a good share of the limelight. I didn't make Joseph steal anybody's thunder, but I also gave him the chance to play a big part in beating both Grimm and being badass** **!**


	7. Chapter 7

**God… once again, I really am sorry for the long wait on this one! The reason for the delay on this chapter was because I had to go on a pretty bad trip this week… in more ways than one.**

 **Disclaimer:lolrus555 owns neither JoJo's Bizarre Adventure nor RWBY. They belong to Hirohiko Araki and Rooster Teeth respectively.**

' _God…! Grandad really had a shitty childhood!' Joseph thought as he watched various events of Jonathan's life flash before him._

 _When Joseph went to bed after everything involving initiations was taken care of, he was treated to another dream showcasing his grandfather's life. Unlike the last dream, Joseph was treated to various instances of Jonathan's life rather than just one scene, and almost all of them involved the poor guy getting tormented in some way by that blonde asswipe._

 _For some strange reason, Dio really seemed to have it out for Jonathan, if these snippets of his life were any indication. From nearly poking his eye out during a boxing match the two had to driving all his friends away from him, the blonde boy seemed to have made it his mission to make his grandfather feel pain._

 _However, as the various scenes from Jonathan's life were shown and etched into Joseph's memories, they suddenly stopped at one scene in particular. Currently, Joseph, in Jonathan's point of view once more, felt himself sprinting back to the Joestar manor. What surprised Joseph about this particular memory was just how_ _ **furious**_ _Jonathan felt right now. When Joseph skimmed through the other parts of his grandfather's life, he was able to feel all of his emotions, and never once had the trickster felt such a_ _ **white-hot fury**_ _in the young boy. However, it seemed that Jonathan's rage didn't impede his agility in the slightest, for when he began to near the fountain in the center of the courtyard, the blue-haired noble opted to jump over it rather than just run around. It was quite the impressive feat, considering the fountain had the length of about four ping-pong tables, give or take._

" _ **DIOOOOO!"**_ _Jonathan screamed as he slammed open the doors to the manor, sprinting towards Dio, who was currently reading a book in the lounge._

" _Hush boy! I won't have you speak my name in vane!" Dio retorted, getting up from his seat and looking towards Jonathan with a glare, not concerned by the boy's rage in the slightest._

" _IT ENDS TODAY! I WON'T HAVE YOU SULLY AN INNOCENT MAIDEN'S HONOR! THIS IS BETWEEN YOU AND ME DAMMIT!" Jonathan yelled as he quickly closed the distance between himself and his step-brother, ready to slam his fist into the smug blonde's face._

" _Oh? Are we upset about Erina?" Dio asked coyly, a smug, shit-eating smirk on his face. "That she shared her favors with me? And now you intend to give me a proper thrashing for my impudence? Is that's what's going on here?"_

' _ **...What!? What the hell did this asswipe do to granny Erina!?'**_ _Joseph thought, beginning to understand his grandfather's anger more and more with each passing second. It was bad enough this blonde douche was a complete ass to his grandpa in all these dreams he was having, but now he was screwing with his grandma!? There had been many points in these dreams where Joseph wanted to take control of Jonathan just to knock this blonde punk down a few pegs, but now it reached an all time high._

" _THIS TIME DIO, YOU HAVE GONE_ _ **TOO FAR!"**_ _Jonathan yelled, throwing a punch at the blonde boy once he got close, only for Dio to parry it and brutally elbow Joseph's grandfather in the face._

" _Perhaps I have," Dio reflected idly as he twisted his elbow a few times for good measure. "but it will be you who regrets this, NOT ME!" And with that said, Dio used his other hand to uppercut Jonathan and send him flying into the stairway._

' _I… I can't beat him…!' Jonathan thought as he began to slump down in a daze. While this was happening, Dio decided to throw his jacket off so his wouldn't stain it with blood. 'But… if I lose here, I'll spend the rest of my life under Dio's shadow!' When this thought crossed the blue-haired boy's mind, he began to pick himself up._

' _But most of all…!' Joseph heard Jonathan think as he steeled his nerves. 'I need to fight for Erina's honor! She needs a champion!' And with his resolve strengthened, the blue-haired noble got into a boxing stance as he wiped the blood off his face and glared at Dio._

" _Well, what are you waiting for!?" Dio challenged as he got into the same boxing stance. "COME ON!"_

" _ **RRRRRAGH!"**_

 _With Dio's provocation being the last straw, Jonathan let out a furious yell and charged at him once more. Jonathan threw a punch at Dio's face again, only for him to block the hit and retaliate with a kick to the face._

' _ **Come on grandad! Don't let this asswipe beat you! KICK HIS ASS!'**_ _Joseph mentally encouraged, hoping the attack from Dio hadn't put his grandfather down for the count. Fortunately, as though he heard his grandson cheering him on, when Dio finished his attack, Jonathan immediately retaliated by grabbing onto the sides of the blonde's head with both hands._

" _W-What!? How is this possible!?" Dio gritted out as he tried to prevent Jonathan getting any closer. "H-How are you able to grab me after a direct blow to the head!? Was I too gentle!?"_

 _Instead of answering, Jonathan responded in a way that made Joseph proud._

 _Which was by winding his head back and headbutting the blonde bastard in the face._

" _ **DIOOOOOO!"**_

 _Before Dio could even attempt to recover from the brutal blow to the head, Jonathan began to repeatedly and brutally hook the blonde in the face._

" _I'M GOING TO BEAT YOU UNTIL I HAVE YOU AT MY KNEES CRYING!_ _ **YOU MISERABLE PIECE OF TRASH!"**_ _Jonathan screamed as he continued to beat down Dio, his hits not fading in power or speed in at all. Finally, after winding up his right arm, Jonathan delivered his coup de grace in the form of a brutal uppercut to the battered Dio's chin._

" _ **GLRK-AUUUURGH!"**_ _Dio screamed in agony as Jonathan's uppercut sent him flying towards the ground, his blood flying in surprising quantities everywhere. When the rage and adrenaline began to finally began to wear down, disbelief began to flood Jonathan when he realized what he just accomplished._

' _I… I did it! I managed to beat him…!' Jonathan thought to himself. After having to deal with Dio's torment for so long with no way to fight back, he was finally able to show his tormentor that he wasn't to be underestimated. Joseph himself was experiencing similar thoughts._

' _ **Good going gramps! Way to teach that brat a lesson!'**_ _Joseph mentally cheered, beginning to feel a pride towards his grandfather similar to that of a father towards his son._

 _ ***SHCK Spilllll…***_

 _However, both Joseph and Jonathan were snapped out of their thoughts when they began to hear the sound of a liquid being spilled. Looking towards the source of the noise, Jonathan was surprised to see that the noise was coming from the strange_ _ **Stone Dagger**_ _that his father came into possession of in his youth. The dagger itself was a rather bland artifact really, apparently just a worn replication of a ceremonial dagger made entirely of stone, with the only notable features about the knife being the small pale blue streak on it's blade, all in all, coming off as an easily looked over ornament in the mansion. However, what the dagger was doing currently certainly caught Jonathan's (and by extension, Joseph's) attention. For some reason, a_ _ **strange black liquid**_ _came leaking out of the tip of the dagger and began to spill down to the ground. The liquid also got mixed with some of Dio's blood, which had splattered onto the dagger while Jonathan was thrashing him around._

' _...What in the world…?' Jonathan thought, his confusion mirroring Joseph's. 'That old relic of father's just-'_

" _H...How… How dare you do that to me!" Jonathan's attention, however, was taken away from the Stone Dagger when he heard Dio whimper something out. When he looked towards him, the Joestar was surprised to see his step-brother shakily pushing himself back up, tears actually running down his face._

' _I… I don't believe it…! He's actually crying!' Jonathan thought, bewildered. When he said that he would beat Dio till he would cry, that was just the bravado and heat of the moment speaking, he didn't actually expect to reduce the blonde to tears. Honestly, looking at him in his current state, his tormentor actually looked quite pathetic._

" _H-How dare you lay your filthy hands on me…!" Dio managed between sobs, wiping the combination of blood, tears, and snot off his face before he began to reach for something in his back pocket._

" _YOU'LL REGRET THIS, YOU FILTHY BASTARD! I'LL KILL YOU FOR YOUR INSOLENCE!" Dio screamed as he pulled out a thin knife and pointed it at Jonathan, ready to stab him for the humiliation he forced him to endure._

" _That's quite enough! Both of you!" A masculine, british voice spoke up before either boy could make the next move. When Jonathan looked up the stairwell, Joseph saw that it was George Joestar the 1st, Jonathan's father and his great-grandfather, and didn't look pleased at all with his psychical or adopted son._

" _A little fight between the both of you is well and fine if it's during a boxing match, but I won't have it in this household! Just look at the mess the both of you made! You've both spilled blood everywhere and neither of you decided to put any sheets up either!"_

" _But father, you don't understand! Dio-"_

" _I don't care what Dio did!" George's angry voice cut Jonathan off. "Now, I want both of you to go up to your rooms while the servants clean up the mess you made! I shall decide your punishments at noon, do you both understand or do I have to repeat myself?" George asked rhetorically in a tone that booked no argument._

" _...Not at all father…" Jonathan grimaced, looking back towards the Stone Dagger, which seemed to have stopped producing that black substance, before looking towards Dio with a glare, only for the blonde to return the glare with one that conveyed all the fury, anger, and hatred he felt towards Jonathan, and to be frank, it really creeped Joseph out._

 ***BEEP***

 ***BEEP***

 ***BEEP***

 ***BEEP***

* * *

"...I…. get the feeling these dreams aren't gonna stop any time soon…" Joseph groaned as he sat up, his alarm clock stirring him from his slumber. Rubbing his eyes with one hand, he used his other to haphazardly reach around and find his alarm button. Once he finally did, the Joestar slammed his palm onto the damnable device and finally managed to turn it off. After taking a moment to appreciate the silence, Joseph took a brief look around his room.

Since both team RWBY and team JNPR already had the maximum amount of people in their dorm rooms, Ozpin had no choice but to give the 5th member of both teams his own room. Joseph had already spent the last night unpacking his supplies, however, since those supplies mostly consisted of clothes, jewelry, and weapons, his dorm room didn't have much going for it in the way of decoration. The room had the same design as the other student's dorm rooms, with light-grey walls and a large window overlooking the outside of the academy, and the only real difference compared to the other rooms in the academy being the fact that there was only one bed available rather than four of them, fortunately enough. The room also came with a desk for studying, but Joseph doubted he was going to try doing anything on such a dinky wooden desk and chair.

"Gotta admit, I'm glad that for the time being, I won't have to share my room with anyone else! A man like me needs his privacy." Joseph said to himself, very pleased that he wouldn't have to worry about roommates for a while. "Anyway, what time is it again?" Joseph muttered, checking the time on his Alarm clock.

 **6:30 AM**

"Man, it really is surprising how easy it is to tell time with these clocks~!" Joseph said to himself, amazed by the technological advancement that was a _**Digital Clock**_ before checking what this meant for his schedule.

"Alright, so my first actual class is at 9:00 AM… which gives me two and a half hours of time to pretty up!" Joseph finished, slamming the schedule back onto his nightstand and deciding to go about his first order of business for the day.

"...Geeze…" Joseph whined as he stood in an open space in his room and stood up straight. "And here I thought I wouldn't have to deal with this after everything with the Pillar Men was said and done."

" **KOOOOHHHH"**

Once the slacker was finished whining, Joseph began to take a series of slow, steady, and controlled breathing exercises. When Lisa Lisa started his Hamon training regimen, the first thing they established after he and Caesar got out of that damn oil tower was that every morning, he would have to spend an hour doing a series of special breathing exercises to help keep in practice with his Hamon. Joseph, for all intents and purposes, initially planned on just ditching this whole regimen after defeating the Pillar Men, but since he was now apparently going to end up with a career that involved _**fighting monsters,**_ the slacker begrudgingly decided that he would be better off continuing his breathing excercises. Afterall, the last thing Joseph needed during his time on Remnant was to fall out of practice. The breathing techniques certainly weren't the only part of his Hamon training, but since he was likely going to be doing a lot of extraneous psychical activity from here on out, Joseph decided that this would suffice for now.

" _ **KOOOOOOHHHH-GAH!**_ Alright, that should do it!" Joseph gasped when his breathing exercises finally came to an end, checking the clock to make sure an hour had indeed passed.

 **7:30 AM**

"God, this sucks. It's bad enough I still gotta keep this up every morning, but that fact that I also gotta go _**school**_ is just the freaking cherry on top." Joseph groaned as he sat down on his bed. While this might come as a surprise, considering how clever he is, Joseph pretty much always skipped out on school back in New York and England. All that time he spent out on the streets just screwing around and getting into fights left him a pretty street-smart guy. However, when he remembered that it was either this or sharing a park bench with a hobo, the Joestar finally decided to get up and continue getting ready for the day.

* * *

"God DAMN! This uniform is tight!" Joseph muttered as he tugged on the collar of his uniform. "Did that dumbass get my size wrong or something!?" To Joseph, it was bad enough that this academy had a damn dress code, but the fact that Ozpin likely got the size for his uniform wrong was just the cherry on top. Joseph's uniform was the same as any other male student's, but since Beacon had a rather lax policy on the dress code, he decided to include his scarf as well as his Red Stone necklace. Also, as Joseph was previously mentioned for the sake of complaining, the uniform seemed to be a size too small for him, it left him with a bit of difficulty breathing and hugged his broad figure rather tightly.

That being said, Joseph knew that complaining really wasn't going to do anything, so the Joestar merely took out a piece of chewing gum he got from the mess hall and popped it in his mouth, deciding to focus on more important matters as he continued through campus and towards his class.

' _...I wonder what the deal with that weird knife was…'_ Joseph pondered as he thought back to his dream. ' _Considering grandad was too busy beating the shit outta Dio, I didn't get a chance to see what made it spill all that_ _ **black stuff**_ _, but from what I've seen of gramp's memories, it's never done something like that before.'_ If Joseph was going to be honest with himself, he wasn't even sure why he was thinking about this, but for some reason, it just felt important. Afterall, the trickster still wasn't even sureabout the reason for these strange dreams. Because of this, he had to make sure not to overlook any detail that could shed some light on this matter. For all he knew, that knife might just hold the answers that he's looking for.

' _Alright, so let's think about this! What happened during that beatdown that could've triggered an ancient stone dagger to start producing some weird black stuff out the tip…?'_ Joseph mentally asked himself, unaware that he walked right into Beacon's courtyard.

' _Well, there was a lot of blood being splattered everywh-'_ Joseph stopped dead in his tracks as the implications finally dawned on him.

"W...Wait a damn minute…!" Joseph thought aloud as a cold sweat began to run down his neck. "A… A stone object that reacts… _**when it comes into contact with blood**_ … That's a bit too familiar for my liking…" Did this mean that Kars created devices other than the Stone Mask as well? Joseph honestly wasn't sure what the implications of this dream implied, but he was certain that he didn't like it, whatever it may be.

"...Was that knife a prototype to the Stone Mask or is _something else_ going on h-"

"HURRY IT UP, YOU MORON! WE ONLY GOT THREE MINUTES BEFORE CLASS BEGINS! I THOUGHT YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE FAST!?"

"I don't work well under pressure!"

Joseph was then brought out of his musing when Team RWBY suddenly sprinted past him, heading in the direction of the lecture halls, with Team JNPR close behind them. It took Joseph a moment before he realized why his teammates were running.

"Oh!... _Oh nooooo…._ I'm gonna be late for class…! How… maddening…" Joseph drawled, not feeling that something as trivial as being late for class was worth being melodramatic over. He then proceeded to follow his teammates at leisurely pace, unaware of Ozpin or Goodwitch, who had been in the Courtyard without him noticing. Normally, the blonde instructor would've been annoyed with the boy's lax attitude, but the things he was saying caught both her attention as well as Ozpin's.

"'A stone object that reacts to contact with blood…?' odd… I can't say I've ever heard of such a device. What about you professor?... Professor?" When Goodwitch noticed that Ozpin wasn't responding, she looked over to him with a questioning look, only to find him looking towards the doorway the two teams disappeared into, a look of deep thought on his face.

"...Concerning…" Ozpin muttered before he took a sip out of his coffee mug and walked away, leaving a confused Glynda in his wake.

* * *

"Monsters! _Demons..._ prowlers of the _**blah**_! Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many _**blah,**_ but I prefer to refer to _**blah**_ as _**blah-blahblah!**_ Ha-Ha!"

' _...This guy just_ _ **loves**_ _running his mouth, doesn't he?'_ Joseph thought as he used an arm to keep himself propped up. He initially figured that his classes would end up being _marginally_ more interesting than the usual crap you learned about in school, afterall, Joseph WAS in a school about teaching people how to fight monsters, but so far, it was just this blowhard running his mouth! It seemed Joseph wasn't the only one that wasn't interested in this guy's, **(Professor… Port? Pyg? Was it? He hadn't really been listening at the time,)** ramblings either. Most of the other students just seemed to be looking at the man without really taking in any of what he was saying, or were just slacking off while the instructor wasn't looking. Joseph also couldn't help but notice that Ruby seemed to be among these slackers, and the reason why he noticed in the first place was because of the shocking amount of killing intent being directed towards her.

' _Hoof, looks like somebody has it out for you, Rubes!'_ Joseph thought as he looked at the leader of Team RWBY, who was currently working on a crude drawing of the professor. _'Truth be told, I'm kinda shocked about just how oblivious you are… anyway, just who the hell is radiating all this damn killing intent anyway?'_ Joseph thought as he looked around the room. Although he ended up not having to search far.

 _ **ゴ**_

 _ **ゴ**_

 _ **ゴ**_

 _ **ゴ**_

Because the source of all the killing intent Ruby was getting ended up coming from Weiss, of all people.

' _Jesus! What the hell did she do to piss her off this time?'_ Joseph mentally asked, genuinely surprised at the look of anger and resentment on the heiress's face. While Joseph understood that Weiss and Ruby didn't exactly meet on the best of terms, he would know, considering he was present for that unfortunate event, he figured that the girls had more or less resolved their issues back at the Emerald Forest, so seeing the white-haired girl glaring at her team leader so hard that he saw japanese kanji floating around her certainly came as a surprise. But then again, maybe it shouldn't have, after all, if Joseph recalled correctly, Weiss certainly didn't seem happy about Ruby being elected as the team leader during the team announcements.

"So! Who among you believes themselves to be the _embodiment_ of these traits?" The instructor suddenly asked, apparently having came down from another long-winded rant. As soon as he asked this, Weiss immediately raised her hand in response.

"I do sir!" Professor Port, whose name Joseph finally remembered, seemed to smile questioningly in response to this.

"Well then, let's find out!" As soon as he said this, the Beacon instructor pointed towards the corner of the lecture hall, which seemed to hold an angry caged Boarbatusk, the beast's squealing noises all too familiar for Joseph.

"Step forward and face your opponent!"

 _ **-To be continued…**_

* * *

 **(9/12/15): Yeah, I figured that I should make this one a two parter. I was initially going to make the whole "Badge and Burden" episode one big thing, but I figured I might as well make up for the lost time and stay true to RWBY's episode format at the same time.**

 **So anyway, explanation time! Now some of you might be wondering why this chapter took so much longer compared to the others when it wasn't even that long, and that's because circumstances led to me spending the past week on a family trip. I didn't mean for that to make things longer than they already were, but things happen. Also, I'm kinda gonna be a bit occupied for this week as well, so don't be surprised if the 2nd part to this chapter takes a little while as well. I'm sorry for dropping this on you all, but that's just how life is.**

 **Anyway, I figured now would be as good a time as any to introduce** **something new to the story!** **It's a relatively simple thing, in the author's notes next chapter, I'm simply going to include recommendations for games and movies I've been playing lately that may've been inspiring for certain chapters. Although this is only if I've been playing or watching something that's been influencing my story-making. If I haven't then I simply won't include anything.**

 **Anyway, thank you all for reading, hopefully, the second part will be finished sooner rather than later. Anyway, seeya!**


	8. Chapter 8

**And here is the second part! I hope you all enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: lolrus555 owns neither JoJo's Bizarre Adventure nor RWBY. They belong to Hirohiko Araki and Rooster Teeth, respectively.**

' _Alright! Gladiators! This should make things a bit more interesting~!'_ Joseph thought with a smile as he saw Weiss walk back into the classroom, her normal outfit and rapier in tow, and get into position in front of the cage containing the Boarbatusk.

"GOOO WEISS~!" Yang cheered from her seat.

"Fight well!" Blake added in, waving a banner that had their team name around, apparently having pulled it out of the ethereal realm.

"Yeah! Represent Teeeam RWBY~!" Ruby included happily.

""Ruby, I'm trying to focus!" Only for her to be coldly shot down by Weiss, whose anger at Ruby only seemed to be increasing.

' _Ouch, well it looks like SOMEBODY'S still in a pissy mood.'_ Joseph thought dryly, as Ruby meekly apologized, confused by her teammate's cold attitude.

"Alright~!" Professor Port began, holding up his battle axe for all to see. "Let the match, _BEGIN!"_ And with that, the mustachioed instructor brought his axe down on the lock keeping the Boarbatusk's gate closed, allowing the Boar-like Grimm to come charging out towards Weiss.

When the Grimm came within Weiss's range, the Heiress quickly delivered a slash to the Boarbatusk's face while dodging to the left quickly. However, thanks to the creature's bone-like armor, no real damage was done to the Boarbatusk as it came to stop and stared down Weiss, who put some distance between herself and the Grimm.

"Ha-Ha! Didn't see _that one_ coming, did you~!" Port noted merrily, adding in some commentary to the match that nobody asked for.

"Hang in there Weiss!" Ruby encouraged, although the scowl that made it's way onto Weiss's face implied that the encouragement wasn't appreciated. Wanting to end the fight before things got out of hand, the Heiress sped towards the boar grimm and thrusted her rapier towards it's face, hoping to pierce it's skull. However, the Boarbatusk apparently saw this coming and reacted accordingly by adjusting it's head. By doing this, the Boarbatusk ensured that Weiss's rapier ended up getting stuck in between it's tusks, leading to a fierce tug-of-war between the monster and the Heiress.

"A bold, new approach! I like it!" Port chuckled as Weiss struggled to free her Rapier from the Boarbatusk's tusks, getting tossed around in the process.

"C'mon Weiss! Show it who's boss!" Ruby cheered once more, distracting Weiss long enough for the Boarbatusk to get the upperhand and flail it's head back, causing the rapier to slip out of the white-haired girl's hands and fly to the other side of the room.

"Oh, hoo! Now what will you do without your weapon?" Port mused as the Boarbatusk charged Weiss once more. Reacting quickly, she quickly rolled to the left just as the grimm was about to hit her, leading to it crashing into the wall and temporarily becoming disoriented. Capitalizing on it's disorientation, Weiss took the chance to sprint to the other end of the room and reclaim her rapier.

"Weiss! Go for it's belly! There's no armor underneath-"

"STOP TELLING ME WHAT TO DO!" Weiss yelled, cutting Ruby off and giving the girl a glare that conveyed a lot of anger and resentment, effectively shutting the silver-eyed girl up. While this happened, the Boarbatusk suddenly curled up into a ball and spun up for a moment before it launched itself towards Weiss. Taking this in stride, the Heiress quickly summoned a glyph in front of herself just as the Boarbatusk was about to hit her, the sudden collision causing the Grimm to uncurl and land on it's back, exposing it's stomach to Weiss. Seeing an opportunity to put an end to things, Weiss quickly jumped into the air and summoned a glyph at her feet, launching her towards the immobile beast and allowing her to ram her rapier into the Boarbatusk's stomach, effectively killing it. Once Weiss realized she finally won the fight, she took a moment to catch her breath before pulling her blade out of the dead Grimm.

"Bravo! Oh bravo~! It appears we truly are in the presence of a huntress-in-training!" Port congratulated as Weiss began to pick herself up. "Now, I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Be sure to cover the assigned readings and _stay vigilant_! Class dismissed!" As soon as the instructor said this, Weiss took this opportunity to storm out the room, but not before giving Ruby, who was still recoiling from Weiss's outburst, one last glare.

' _What the hell crawled up her ass and died?'_ Joseph thought with a raised brow. Upon noticing that Ruby hurried out the classroom to catch up with her teammate, the Joestar decided to tail behind her, just to see what was going on.

' _Well~.'_ Joseph thought as a sly smile made it's way onto his face. _'What better way to get all the juicy details than to see for myself?'_

* * *

' _I wouldn't really call this an invasion of one's privacy,'_ Joseph thought as he looked out the room. When he saw Ruby to the right of the corridor hurrying after Weiss, he followed them, making sure to keep his distance.

' _I am technically on the same team as them, so I need to know all the juicy details about what's going on so I can help them through this! In that regard, is what I'm doing really all that bad~?'_

"Weiss! Weiss!" Ruby called out as she followed after Weiss, who just turned down another corner, none the wiser of Joseph tailing her from behind. When Ruby turned the corner as well, the Joestar hung behind to stay hidden and listen in on the two's conversation, or argument, in this case.

"What!?" Joseph heard Weiss respond.

"What's wrong with you? Why are you being so-"

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with _you?"_ Weiss cut Ruby off, building anger clear in her voice. "You're supposed to be a leader, and so far, all you've been is a nuisance!"

"What!?" Ruby exclaimed, starting to get offended. "What did I do!?"

"That's just it!" Weiss shouted, not even trying to hide her anger anymore. "You've done _absolutely nothing_ to earn your position! Back in the forest, you acted like a child, and you've only continued to do so!"

"Weiss, where is this coming from?" Ruby asked, unable to understand why the heiress was being so hostile over this. "What happened to all the talk about 'working together'? I thought you believed in acting as a team?" This question only caused Weiss to glower at her before turning away.

"Not a team led by _you._ I've studied _and_ trained. And quite frankly, I deserve better." Once Weiss said this, Joseph heard the sound of her walking further away before she suddenly stopped.

"Ozpin made a mistake." The heiress said coldly before continuing on her way.

"Hoof, talk about drama…"As Joseph said this, he noticed Ozpin walk by him and go behind Ruby, surprising the downtrodden girl when she suddenly turned around to find the headmaster right behind her.

"Hm, well, maybe I should go talk some sense into her…" Joseph said to himself as he went out of the corner to go after Weiss.

* * *

"Urgh… figures I'd find you here, looking over the sunset in a melodramatic manner." Joseph casually said as he strolled into the balcony, where Weiss was currently looking over the academy.

"W-What the!? Where did you even come from!?" Weiss asked, not expecting the Joestar's sudden appearance. She initially came to the balcony hoping to find professor Port, but when she found that he wasn't there, she simply took the time to simmer down and appreciate the sunset. At least until a certain smartass interrupted her.

"Where the hell do you think? I came in through the door like any normal human being would." Joseph deadpanned, motioning towards the door that led back into the academy.

"I knew that!" Weiss snapped at Joseph. "I just meant…" She looked as though she was going to continue before she let out a sigh and leaned back onto the railing. "Nevermind. Look, what do you even want Joestar?" Weiss asked, narrowing her eyes at Joseph, who was idly rubbing the back of his neck as he spoke.

"Well, truth be told, I wanna know why you're being such a hardass on Ruby all of a sudden." Joseph stated, not even bothering to beat around the bush.

"Just what are you going on about?" Weiss demanded, crossing her arms and feigning ignorance to the situation.

"Oh god, stop playing dumb with me, will ya?" Joseph said, more than a little offended that the heiress didn't think he knew what he was talking about. "Why the hell do you think you should be team RWBY's leader and not Ruby?"

While Joseph's last remark hadn't gotten a rise out of Weiss, this one certainly had.

W-WHAT!? How do you even know about that!?" Weiss asked, eyes widening at the Joestar, who couldn't help but smirk at the fact that he managed to catch the heiress off guard.

"Oh, well I just listened in on your little conversation with your team leader." Joseph stated cheekily, not even bothering to sugarcoat the fact that he eavesdropped on them, a fact that hadn't gone unnoticed by Weiss.

"You _eavesdropped_ on us!?" Weiss said angrily. " _How dare you!_ Don't you have any sense of respect for other people!? Or did they just not bother to teach you manners out in the sticks?" The heiress said icily, disgusted by Joseph's actions as well as his unrepentant behavior about the whole issue.

"Look princess, I didn't really come here to talk about me or listen to you calling me an asshole, so could you just cut to the chase and explain to me why you think Ruby isn't good leader material?" Joseph asked, brushing off the heiress's insults. A pretty girl telling him off and calling him a hick had been a pretty common occurrence back in New York, so he had been more or less desensitized about the whole thing.

"...Really? That's all you have to say for yourself?" Weiss asked rhetorically, pinching the bridge of her nose. She then took a deep breath and sighed before looking back towards Joseph with narrowed eyes.

"Well why are you even asking me? You must've heard all of my reasons when you were _**eavesdropping**_ on me." Weiss said, putting emphasis on the last part just to get her earlier point across.

"Oh yeah, I heard all that," Joseph started, ignoring the icy glare Weiss was giving him. "I'm just wondering _why_ you think that."

"What're you talking about?" Weiss asked, raising an eyebrow at Joseph.

"I'm just saying, from what I've seen so far, that girl comes off as pretty competent. I mean, wasn't _she_ the one who thought up that crazy plan to kill that giant bird back in the forest?" Weiss could only scoff when she heard this.

"I'm sorry, but you weren't the one who was stuck with her from the get go! Ever since I've come to this school, I've been forced to deal with her childish, reckless, and clumsy behavior, which she still hasn't made any efforts to improve!" Weiss explained, her voice rising as she thought of Ruby's childish personality.

"One well thought-out plan doesn't take away from the fact that she's been nothing but a childish, irresponsible brat with no sense of discipline, and knowing that somebody like _**that**_ is going to lead my team for the next four years here just infuriates me!" Weiss vented, letting Joseph know just what she thought about her team leader's personality. When the heiress finished, she took a deep breath and let it out before she looked at the Joestar, admittedly curious about what he was going to say. However, Weiss could say with honesty, that she didn't expect Joseph's next action.

"Hehehe...Hahaha…! BAH-HAHAHAHAHA!"

Which consisted of a muted giggle that eventually evolved into full blown laughter.

"W-What!? I'm sorry, but what exactly about this do you find funny!?" Weiss flushed, Joseph's laughter already starting to piss her off.

"Good god… I can't believe I actually expected a decent response from you. I wish I could actually talk with a sensible person about this." The heiress muttered, sending a glare towards the Joestar, whose laughter finally began to die down.

"Jesus… take it easy, will ya princess?" Joseph started, wiping a fake tear from his eye as his giggling finally ceased. "I wasn't laughing at you or what you were saying, I was just laughing at something else…" Weiss looked at the Joestar questioningly as he said this.

"Oh really? Well if you weren't laughing at me, then what, pray tell, were you laughing at?" Weiss asked skeptically, not sure if this was the strange man's way of mocking her.

"Well… how should I say this…?" Joseph began as he rubbed his chin, not sure how to word what he was going to say. "Well, your reasons for hating Ruby kind of made me laugh because of how familiar they were…"

"What do you mean by that?" Weiss asked, starting to get intrigued.

"What I mean is that those were the exact same reasons my _**best friend**_ didn't like me when we first met."

"'Best friend' huh? Well, if he thought about you the same way I think about Ruby, then it sounds like neither of you got along too well." Weiss noted, the statement causing a fond smile to make it's way onto Joseph's face.

"Ha! You got that right! I met him when me and a friend of my family had to go out of town on some important business." Joseph explained, thinking back to that chaotic day in Italy. "I was forced to work with him via circumstance, and we couldn't stand each other when we first met. He came off as a smug, pompous, womanizer that acted like he was untouchable, and he figured that I was just an immature brat. Sounds pretty familiar, huh?" Joseph joked. In all honesty, he just found it to be funny how both Caesar and Weiss more or less felt the same way about himself and Ruby when they first met, it was such a strange coincidence.

"Yeah… I think I understand what you mean now." Weiss admitted, curious as to what type of person this "best friend" of Joseph's was like. Although from what she heard so far, that fact that they became best friends after hearing what he was saying about him was a bit hard to believe.

"Let me guess," Joseph began once more, drawing Weiss abruptly out of her thoughts. "You're thinking _'How in the hell could these two be best friends!? They sound like they hate each other!'_ , Am I right?" the muscular brunet asked, a sly smile on his face as he enjoyed the look of surprise on Weiss's.

"W-What!? NO! I wasn't even thinking of anything remotely like…" However, any protests Weiss had just died in her mouth as Joseph stared at her with that shit-eating smirk. "Rrrgh…! Could you just continue!?" The smug look of satisfaction on Joseph's face stayed there for another moment before he continued.

"Well in that case, let's just pretend you _were_ thinking that, alright? Anyway, before the day's end, we both ended up showing off some of our better qualities to eachother," Joseph explained, a fond smile on his face as he remembered the events of that day in italy.

"I for one ended up seeing his more _**compassionate and honorable**_ side, and he managed to see just how amazing I could really be!" Joseph bragged, remembering the look of shock on Caesar's and Speedwagon's faces when the saw his clacker boomerang in action.

"Alright… well if you guys are such great friends, then why isn't he here with you? or for that matter, why aren't you with him…?" As soon as Weiss asked this, the smile began to fade away from Joseph's face, replaced with an emotionless frown.

"Well… that's because he died a few days ago." Weiss's breath hitched when she heard that, and a rather tense moment of silence passed between the two. Joseph was just staring at the floor with that emotionless frown on his face, and Weiss was left at a loss for words. She was both surprised by the Joestar's sudden shift in mood and unsure about what she could say to lighten it. Another moment passed before Weiss opened her mouth.

"Uh… look…" The heiress began rather awkwardly, causing Joseph to look towards her. "I didn't mean to make you upset when I mentioned your friend… and… I mean it when I say I'm sorry for bringing him up! I wasn't aware he passed away so recen-"

"Ah, you couldn't have known about it, so don't worry." Joseph interrupted casually before Weiss could say more. "And besides, I didn't come here to talk to you about me, so I won't mince words anymore, so could you just do me a favor?"

"A… favor? What exactly do you want?" Weiss asked, a little put off by Joseph's sudden change in mood.

"What I want is for you to give this whole 'Leader issue' a bit more time! Got it?" Joseph declared, jabbing a finger towards Weiss's chest.

"What!? And just what do you mean by that?" Weiss demanded, getting annoyed once more by the demanding tone in Joseph's voice.

"What do you think I mean!?" Joseph retorted angrily before he continued. "Look, it's only been a single day since Ruby's been made the leader of your team, and you're already jumping to conclusions about her! Just give this whole set up a bit more time before you assume that she'll lead you and the rest of your team to their deaths, alright? Just _**try to see Ruby for her good AND bad qualities.**_ " Once he said this, the brunet looked towards Weiss expectantly, awaiting her response. A moment passed before the heiress let out a sigh and responded.

"Alright, _fine._ " Weiss began, exasperation towards this entire conversation clear in her voice. "I'll give her the benefit of the doubt and see if she'll actually bother to try and clean up her act, happy?"

And judging by the toothy smile on his face, Joseph was indeed happy with this turn of events.

"Very! Now if you excuse me, I'm gonna go back to my dorm room and _**polish my steel balls.**_ " Joseph said happily, giving Weiss a friendly pat on the shoulder before walking back towards the doorway, not noticing the look of shock or disgust on the white-haired girls face.

"GOOD GRIEF! I DID _NOT_ NEED TO HEAR THAT! YOU SICK PERVERT!" This statement caused Joseph to look towards Weiss with an offended and confused look on his face.

"What? I need to go maintain the steel balls on my clackers… What'd you think I meant?" Joseph asked, furrowing his brow and looking that the baffled heiress.

"Y-You… Clackers... balls…" Weiss stumbled, the bizarre brunet putting her at a loss for words.

"Riiiiiight… Well, unlike you, I actually have things to do, soooo….. SEEYA!" And with that, Joseph continued on his way.

"W-WAIT!" Weiss called out, her voice bringing Joseph to a halt. Weiss took a brief second to consider how she should word this before she continued.

"This… this friend of yours…" Joseph didn't react when Weiss brought this up, continuing to look away from her. "Could you… tell me his name…?" Upon hearing this question, Joseph turned around and looked towards Weiss, a questioning look on his face.

"Really? And just why do you wanna know this all of a sudden? Is it just because curiosity has gripped you now? Or do you have some other reason…?" Joseph asked, his brows furrowed as he looked towards the Heiress.

"Well… yeah… I AM kinda curious… I've only known you for a few days, but from what I've seen of you, you've either been acting like a humongous smart-ass or are just being plain weird, so… seeing that just mentioning mentioning this person made you act so different got me curious. It made me wonder just what type of person he was…" Weiss admitted, running a hand through her white hair.

"But… if you don't want to tell me, then I can understand, I was just a bit curious…" And with that said, Weiss turned away from Joseph and leaned onto the railing, once again enjoying the site of Beacon during sunset.

"Good god! if you wanted to know, you just had to ask! You didn't need to tell me your whole life story!" Joseph suddenly said, bringing Weiss's attention back to him. When she turned towards him, the Heiress saw that the fond smile on Joseph's face had returned to him

"His name was _**Caesar Zeppeli**_ , and he was a lot of things. Namely, a womanizer, a smug, impulsive jackass, and _**a good friend**_." And having said his piece, Joseph went through the doorway and exited the balcony, leaving Weiss to her thoughts.

"Joseph Joestar… it really is hard to tell just what kind of person you really are… the only thing I know for sure is that you're really _**bizarre...**_ " Weiss said to herself, looking towards the doorway for another moment before looking back over Beacon.

"Caesar Zeppeli, huh?"

* * *

As soon as Joseph made it back into Beacon's hallways, his face faded into a downtrodden frown before he leaned back against the wall.

"...Caesar..." Joseph sighed, running a hand through his messy brown hair as he closed his eyes and thought back to that cold day in front of that ruined hotel.

" _JOJO! THIS IS THE LAST OF MY HAMON! TAKE IT FROM MEEEEEE!"_

"You fucking _**jackass...**_ You couldn't have waited just a few more hours before we confronted them, could you…?" Joseph whispered to himself, leaning his head back against the black wall as his fists unconsciously tightened. For a moment, it looked as though he was about to start bleeding from his palms before his balled up fists suddenly loosened and he let out a tired sigh.

"...I… I wish you were here with me buddy… I miss you…"

At that point, Joseph decided to just go take a nap when he got back to his dorm room in favor of maintaining his equipment.

* * *

"alright, it should be here somewhere…" Ozpin muttered to himself as he looked through the books on the shelf. Currently, the headmaster of Beacon felt the desire to look into something that had been nipping at the back of his head for a while. As a man who's own name didn't follow Remnant's naming rule himself, Mr. Joestar's entire name had been bothering Ozpin for some time. Considering the boy's strange origin's the headmaster didn't put too much thought into it, but that had changed when Ozpin heard Joseph mention that strange stone device.

Ozpin knew for a fact that a device of similar function had been described in a book in this library, but he just couldn't remember where it was. However, after a few more minutes of looking through the books on the shelves, the headmaster finally found what he had been looking for.

"Ah, here we are! The book's coloring was _**white and light blue**_ , if I recall correctly." Ozpin said to himself as he took out the hardcover book and dusted off it's front, having grown dusty from lack of use.

' _ **The Names And Histories Of Atlas's Many Noble Families.'**_

"Hopefully, this shall shed some light on a few things…"

* * *

 **JoJo/RWBY database: Weiss Schnee's semblance**

 **STATS:**

 **Destructive power: D**

 **Speed: B**

 **Range: A**

 **Durability: C**

 **Precision: C**

 **Developmental potential: B**

 **Able to be applied with a variety of effects in combination with various different forms of dust, Weiss's semblance proves to be a very versatile tool for the Heiress.**

 **Glyph generation: Channeled through her rapier, the Myrtenaster, Weiss can use her semblance to spawn magical objects known as glyphs over a great distance. In conjunction with dust, these glyphs can be used in a variety of creative ways.**

 **High versatility: The reason why Weiss's glyphs have such a high developmental potential is because of how the heiress uses her semblance in conjunction with Myrtenaster. With her rapier, Weiss is able to both alter the properties of her glyphs as well as channel dust through them, allowing her to create glyphs that, for example, can freeze the area surrounding it as well as propel herself as well as any targets she has forward a great distance.**

* * *

 **Game recomendation** **: The Divinity Fatum (RPG maker psychological horror game)**

 **Now I'm sure anybody here who's subscribed to somebody like Pewdiepie or Manlybadasshero has seen plenty of RPG maker horror games that don't seem very interesting, but let me assure you that the Dvinity Fatum is certainly worth your time. It has a very unique atmosphere to it that really made it stand out in my mind, reminding me of something like the early Silent Hill games**

 **Plot: To summarize the plot without spoiling anything, it goes like this: You play as an unnamed, white haired girl with strange black markings all over her body who wakes up in the middle of a perpetually dark, raining city. The girl has no memory of how she came to this city, where it is, or what her name even is, only that it's in her best interest to either get out of this city, or find another person within it. Both of these tasks prove to be harder than they initially seem.**

 **Gameplay: The main objective of Divinity fatum is the same as I mentioned earlier. Your main character's goal is to either get out of the city, or find somebody else, and to do this, you have to wander through the city streets looking for clues that gradually give you an idea of just what's going on here. Originally, you had no way of knowing where these clues would even be, but thankfully, the creator of the game, GreyInvidia, released a patch a while back that gives you an intuition mechanic. Essentially, if there's a clue in a certain street in the city, then the number of the street will flash on your screen, effectively giving you a much better sense direction. The controls are simple enough, arrow keys to move, esc to access inventory and map (although I believe there's a quick select for the map), and space bar to examine items. Let me just tell you all in advance: DO NOT try to examine every single object you see in the game like street lamps and such, only items that stand out. GreyInvidia even recommends this in the official walkthrough online! If you do, you're just gonna be wasting your time.**

 **Atmosphere: Let me be the first to say that the atmosphere of this game is freaking amazing! The atmosphere of the city itself left me with this strange sense of alien isolation and confusion as I tried to figure out just how to correctly navigate bizarre looping streets. Whenever I managed to take shelter inside some of the few accessible buildings in the game, I was really reluctant to go back outside again, especially whenever I caught sight of the "Shadow Man", a strange figure you'll come across multiple times in the city, almost always fleeing from you. I was also filled with a lot of anxiety and excitement whenever I was on the street where the next clue was located, because let me tell you that some really weird shit happens when you find something of importance! There's also a recurring theme about the concept of "god" and the concept of an ideal world, but I'll leave you all to figure out just what that means. I also felt a great sense of relief and comfort when I got into the building that the game's 2nd act takes place in. There's a very comforting tune playing in the main floors along with a rather comforting lighting that really makes the building seem safe and welcome compared to the rest of the city.**

 **Also, since we're on the topic, if you're somebody who has a faint heart, then you might want to stay away from this game. With one exception that involves A LOT of ear rape, there aren't really any jump scares in this game, but… let's just say that some of the topics this game goes into and the imagery it has can be pretty fucked up...**

 **If any of you get the chance, I would heavily recommend playing this game when you get the chance, it's free to download and incredibly interesting. A word of warning however, the game is still a work in progress. The creator of the game is currently working on the final act of the game, which has yet to be released. If you want to keep up to date with his progress on the game, then I would recommend following him on the "Divinty Fatum" Tumblr blog.**

* * *

 **Alright, I certainly hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Also, just out of curiosity, would any of you reading this be interested in a Fem!DIOxJonathan fic or a Fem!DiegoxJohnny fic? I've been looking at a lot of JoJo rule 63, and it makes me want to make stories for these pairings I've been thinking up. But yeah, I hope the lot of you all leave a review and everything, so… uh… bye!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Man, these dream sequences are a pain in the ass to write!**

 **Disclaimer: lolrus555 owns neither JoJo's Bizarre Adventure nor RWBY. They belong to Hirohiko Araki and Rooster Teeth, respectively.**

 **Joseph Joestar: Hamon Hunter**

" _I'll return to my chambers…" Jonathan's father said sadly. "Despite what he's done, I still can't bear to see my boy in chains. Do what you must JoJo…"_

" _ **Well… this escalated quickly…"**_ _Joseph said to himself as Jonathan approached Dio with a set of handcuffs in tow._

 _After the last dream, or rather, vision, Joseph had of his grandfather's life, things sped by pretty quickly. During this dream, Joseph saw several years of Jonathan's life speed by in what felt like a few minutes before he came to this time period. As it turned out, Jonathan had found out that Dio had been poisoning George for the last month with the intention of killing him so that he could get the family fortune._

 _As soon as he found this out, the dream ended up fast-forwarding to this moment. However, Joseph was still able to witness Jonathan's meeting and subsequent befriending of old man Speedwagon, who the spikey-haired brunette was able to see in his youth. To his surprise, Joseph had found out that Speedwagon had initially been hired to kill Jonathan when he ventured into town to find a cure for the poison as well as evidence of Dio's crimes. However, after what was essentially his grandfather beating some sense into him, Speedwagon had decided to instead assist Jonathan after seeing just how much of a good man he was._

 _After finding the cure, as well as the evidence that would incriminate both Dio and the man who sold him the poison, both Jonathan and Speedwagon got the cure to George and had been waiting for Dio to return so the police force they brought with them could arrest him._

" _...Do not be fooled old man…" Came the voice of the curiosity shop owner, who was addressing a still-ill George. In response to being addressed by the little man, the Joestar family patriarch looked towards him, suspicion clear in his gaze._

" _This young man has been blessed by the devil, I've read his face and seen_ ** _「_ _three marks on his ear..._ _」_** _his luck will see him through tonight, mark my words." George didn't respond to the man's ominous remark, but the statement stopped him from returning to his chambers, now slightly concerned for his true son's well-being._

" _Dio… despite everything that's happened between us, I want you to know that I never wanted it to end like this…" Jonathan claimed, a somber tone clear in his voice as he said this. In response, Dio could only smile sadly at this statement before he put up his wrists for his step-brother._

" _I understand JoJo… it was my own hubris that led me to this ignominious end. Although… this fall from grace has actually taught me quite well," As Dio was saying this, Joseph felt a look of confusion fall onto Jonathan's face, clearly unable to understand what the blonde was trying to tell him._

" _However one may scheme or assemble, my downfall tonight is part of the human condition…"_

 ** _「_ _A condition I now forsake..._ _」_**

' _ **What? What the hell is he…!? Wait… is he going to… ohhhhh SHIT!'**_ _As Joseph realized what was going on, he also began to take notice of how Dio seemed to be reaching for something with his left arm, which had been put in a sling for some reason._

" _...What!? Dio, what are you trying to say!?" As soon as Jonathan asked this question, a dangerous smile made it's way onto the blonde's face, which filled Joseph with dread._

" _What I'm trying to say JoJo…" As Dio said this, he surprised everybody present when he revealed that his left arm was never broken and subsequently brandished_ ** _「_ _the Stone Dagger_ _」_** _for all to see._

" _ **IS THAT I REJECT MY HUMANITY!"**_

" _HE'S GOT A WEAPON! FIRE AT WILL MEN!" The lead police officer ordered, but before the officers could attempt to pull out their weapons, Dio was able to make the first move._

" _Hehehehee...hahahaha!"_

 _However, rather than attempt to stab Jonathan, Dio instead used the stone dagger to slice his palm open, the contact with the blood causing the black substance to leak out the tip of the dagger once more. As the liquid dribbled down the stone blade, Dio, without the slightest instance of hesitation on his part,_ _ **jammed the dagger into his chest,**_ _still laughing maniacally as he did so. As soon as the blade pierced his skin, a bright shining light suddenly shone out of the chest wound, blinding everybody present._

" _HEHEEHEHEHAHA! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"_

 _And just like that, it was over. The light which had been shining out of Dio's stab wound suddenly came to the stop, and the blonde man slumped to the ground like a puppet that had been detached from it's strings. A moment of tense silence passed before Jonathan broke the ice, his words the shaky and filled with barely suppressed emotion at what he just witnessed._

" _...What… what on_ _ **「**_ _ **Remnant**_ _ **」**_ _just happened…?"_

 ***BEEP***

 ***BEEP***

 ***BEEP***

 ***BEEP***

* * *

"What… did he just say…?" Joseph whispered to himself, a cold sweat covering his entire body. It was just a simple sentence, and considering the circumstances, it was a perfectly natural reaction for his grandfather to have considering what Dio did, but that sentence also made Joseph question if that even _**was**_ his grandfather.

"...He said _**「Remnant...」**_ Not 'What on _**「Earth 」**_ just happened?', it was 'What on _**「Remnant」**_ just happened?'." Joseph just lied there for what felt like an hour before he let out a frustrated moan and tightly grasped his brown mane, trying to make sense of what this revelation revealed.

"SON OF A BITCH! WHY DOES THIS SHIT HAVE TO BE SO FREAKING CONVOLUTED!?"

* * *

"So! There we were, in the middle of the night…"

"It was day."

' _What does it mean?'_

We were **surrounded** by Ursai…"

"They were Beowolves…"

' _What does it mean!?'_

"DOZENS OF THEM!"

"Two of them."

"GOD FREAKING DAMMIT! WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN!?"

.

.

.

"I said that out loud, didn't I? _Shit_."

This little outburst had gotten not only the attention of Team RWBY and JNPR (save Jaune, who seemed to have been moping around for some reason,) but also the attention of almost everybody in the dining hall. All eyes stayed on him for a moment before the other students went back to what they were doing, save RWBY and JNPR, who were all looking at him in confusion and slight concern.

"'It means' that they were still no match for us and Ren and I managed to make a fortune of Lien by selling Ursa rugs, silly!"

Except for Nora, who seemed to have misinterpreted Joseph's outburst.

"Joseph… are you feeling alright…?" Blake asked, looking up from the book she had been reading to give Joseph a questioning gaze. In response, the Joestar could only pinch the bridge of his nose before he let out a sigh of annoyance.

"Yeah yeah, I'm fine. Sorry about that. I've just been having some… **_「bad dreams」_** lately and they've kinda started to put me on edge…" Joseph half-lied. He didn't exactly feel very comfortable telling his teammates about his dreams yet. He still knew too little about them to explain properly, and even if he knew the cause and reason behind these dreams, the trickster highly doubted that any of them would believe him. After all, having dreams about a man who may or may not even be your grandpa isn't really an easy thing to explain without looking like a total lunatic.

"'Bad dreams' huh?" Yang repeated, looking skeptically at Joseph. "They must've been pretty terrible if they can make you start screaming like a maniac out of nowhere." Judging by the tone in Yang's voice, she seemed to have realized that there was more to what Joseph was saying then he was letting on.

"JoJo, listen. You do understand that since we're all on the same team, you don't have to hide anything from us, right? If something's bothering you, any of us would be happy to listen." Yang explained, hoping that this statement would be enough to get Joseph to explain what was really bothering him. Normally, she would let the role of "Team therapist" fall into somebody more fitting for the role, like Ruby or Pyrrha, but she was admittedly interested in what was suddenly bothering Joseph.

"Yeah, Yang's right JoJo!" Ruby added. "You're a part of Team RWBY! If you have anything you want to say, then we're all here to-"

"Okay, can we stop with all the _fucking_ psychoanalysis for second!?" Joseph interrupted angrily, cutting a surprised Ruby off and keeping anybody else from speaking up as well.

"Alright, two things." Joseph began, annoyance clear in his voice. "First off, _**I don't need everyone's help.**_ I just had a few bad dreams and I need some time to think about it. What I don't need is everybody ganging up on me out of nowhere."

"Secondly, WHY THE HELL _**IS**_ EVERYONE SUDDENLY INTERROGATING ME LIKE THIS!? What, there aren't any other troubled looking teenagers to try and talk to? Jauney boy seems like a _much_ better candidate for that than me, if I do say so myself." Joseph remarked dryly, gesturing towards Jaune, who until being brought up was disinterestedly picking at his food.

"W-What? Me!? What're you talking about!?" Jaune asked, surprised at being brought up like this out of nowhere.

"Actually Jaune, JoJo isn't wrong when he says that. You've kinda been acting… off all day. Is everything alright…?" Pyhrra suddenly said, concern lacing her voice.

"Alright? Yeah, I'm doing great guys! What made any of you think I wasn't?" Jaune said hastily, not coming off as reassuring at all.

"Well," Ruby began, looking at her fellow team leader with concern. "It's just that you seem a little… **not** okay." At this point, all attention had been taken off Joseph and now focused on Jaune, with the others stopping their previous actions to look at Jaune.

' _Well, I'm glad I got that out of the way.'_ Joseph thought as he gave a quiet sigh of relief. Both Team RWBY and JNPR had all proven to be very good friends to Joseph, but times like these he felt they could be a bit smothering at times. If you asked him, sometimes one needs to deal with their problems on their own. Life-threatening problems notwithstanding of course.

"H-Hey! Stop that!"

However, Joseph was brought out of his musings when he heard a girl pleading. Looking to the source of the voice, he saw that a girl with long brown hair and big brown rabbit ears on her head was being harassed by a group of guys. Joseph recognized them as Team CRDL, who were lead by that guy with the crew-cut. Judging by how the guy was currently pulling on the girl's bunny ears and how he was being an overall asswipe, Joseph could tell that this guy certainly wasn't a likable person. It also seemed that Joseph wasn't the only one that noticed this cruel display either, because both Team RWBY and JNPR were looking at the group of guys as well.

"Jaune, Cardin's been picking on you since the first week of school, why haven't you told one of the teachers about it?" Pyrrha asked. Joseph hadn't really been paying attention to their conversation, but he could piece things together and see that this Cardin guy was most likely the cause of Jaune's somber mood.

"'Cardin,' so that's his name huh?" Joseph noted. As he said this, he noticed how the brunette seemed to be reacting with pain when Cardin started pulling on her bunny ears.

"Huh, with the way she's reacting, you'd think that those things were attached to her head." Joseph noted, getting some confused stares from his teammates.

"That's… because they are." Blake explained, unable to tell if Joseph was joking about this or not. And judging by the surprised look she got from him, it seemed that he wasn't.

"Wait, WHAT!? Did she superglue them to her scalp or something!?" Joseph asked, raising the confusion of his teammates even more so. Did he honestly not know what a Faunus was?

"That's… because she's a Faunus." Ruby explained. When she just got a look for Joseph that seemed to indicate she should continue, she did. "JoJo… you DO know what a Faunus is… right?"

"O-Oh! PFFT! YEAH! Of course I do! What kind of moron do you take me for?... I mean, what about you? Do _you_ know what a Faunus is?" Joseph asked. Internally, the brunette felt like punching himself in the face for making a complete fool of himself right now. While the Joestar had indeed frequented the city of Vale a few times to go shopping for clothes and other knick-knacks, most of the time he never really payed attention to any people he passed by… meaning he most likely never noticed any people with animal ears and tails.

"Faunus are people that born with animal like features, like tails or bunny ears for example." Blake explained before Ruby or anybody else had the chance to answer Joseph. "A lot of the time, they tend to be looked down upon and discriminated by plenty of bigots out there. Usually because they see them as nothing but animals…" The yellow-eyed girl explained with a hint of bitterness in her voice.

"Yeah! I knew all that! I was just making sure you guys knew!" Joseph boasted in an admittedly pathetic attempt to salvage his pride. However, the smirk on his face slowly faded into a thoughtful frown before he spoke up once again.

"Wait… so then that would mean Crew-Cut over there is…"

"A humongous racist, yes." Blake finished for Joseph.

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"Okay, y'know what? Fuck this guy." Joseph suddenly declared, getting up from his seat as he said this.

'W-Wait a minute!" Jaune said hastily as Joseph began to approach the unaware Team CRDL, who were still harassing the girl with the rabbit ears. "Joseph, what-what are you going to do!?"

"Simple! That asshole needs a lesson in manners and I intend to be the one to teach him!" And with that angry statement, Joseph continued to march towards team CRDL's table, ignoring Jaune's weak warnings as he did so.

"Aww…" Nora whined. " _I_ wanted to be the one to break his arms…"

"Well~! This should be good! Wish I brought some popcorn." Yang said as she watched the unfolding events with interest.

* * *

"Okay fellows, so here's the thing." Joseph started as he made it up to Team CRDL, who stopped bothering the girl for a moment to look towards the one who addressed them.

"Now, I'm usually the type of guy to stay out of other people's business, but I tend to make exceptions for... displays like this. So why don't the lot of you stop being jackasses and leave the girl alone, alright?" Upon hearing this, three of the boy looked at Joseph with varying expressions. Cardin seemed to be sizing Joseph up before smirking at him while his other three teammates began to surround them, all of them either sneering at him or snickering at his previous statement. One thing that seemed to be a constant among all of them was that they didn't seem to take Joseph seriously and weren't intimidated by his size.

"Ah, hey! I know who you are. You're that _**'JoJo'**_ guy who's on two teams, right?" Cardin asked rhetorically, getting up from his seat and walking up to Joseph. the girl with the rabbit ears took this chance to put some distance between herself and team CRDL, although she still stayed nearby to watch how this would all play out.

"That would be me, yes." Joseph deadpanned. "But only my friends can call me JoJo…"

"Right, well here's the thing, _JoJo."_ Cardin began, putting emphasis on the nickname just to annoy Joseph. "I get that you think you're hot shit and everything, considering you think you can order me and my team around and all, but to be frank, you don't scare us." As Cardin said this, he suddenly pushed Joseph with a surprising amount of force, causing stagger back into one of the cafeteria tables.

"So why don't _you_ mind your own goddamn business and _we_ won't make your life utter sh-"

 ***crUNCH-SPLT***

Before Cardin could attempt to finish that statement, Joseph's right fist slammed into his cheek with a shocking amount of force. And after giving Cardin a glare that would stop an Ursa dead in it's tracks, The Joestar tightened his fist before he increased the force of his punch. The blow was so hard that Cardin's face briefly contorted before a tooth came flying out of his mouth and he went flying into the ground.

"Don't think I'm just gonna take your bullshit lying down, you _**goddamn country bumpkin!"**_

"Gh! He knocked out my freaking tooth!" Cardin choked out, grasping his jaw as he got back onto his feet. At this point, various students had noticed the commotion that was going on, leading to all eyes being on them. In all honesty, this kind of reminded Joseph of the time he beat up that weird looking racist back at New York. The Joestar never did find out what the hell was with those metal objects lodged in the guy's head.

"You freaking bastard!"

"Wait! Don't tell me! You're gonna say: **'You really think I'm gonna let you get away with that!?'** Well? Am I right?"

"You really think I'm gonna let you get away with that!? HUH!?" Cardin gasped, saying exactly what Joseph had predicted without even thinking about it. Shaking off his initial shock, the mace-wielder angrily marched over to the Joestar and grabbed him by his light purple tank top.

"And now for my next little glimpse into the future, you'll say: **'So what if you know what I'm gonna say!? Your cheap parlor tricks won't stop me from beating you down!'** To you." Joseph said, a cocky smirk all too clear on his face.

"So what if you know what I'm gonna say!? Your cheap parlo-!?... You cocky son of a bitch!" At this point, Cardin had more than enough of Joseph's fore-site and cocky attitude. Throwing caution to the wind, he threw his left fist at Joseph's face, only for him to catch it with relative ease.

"Well this is a surprise. You're actually kinda strong! I guess you're not completely full of hot-air after all." Joseph noted casually, slightly impressed that he actually had to put some effort into blocking this punk's attack. With his taunting only making him angrier, Cardin began to put more force into his punch, actually beginning to overpower Joseph. Surprised by this, but not stunned, the brunette simply moved his head out of the way before immediately releasing Cardin's fist after doing so, the end result being the leader of team CRDL losing his balance and falling to the ground.

"That's quite enough. Both of you!"

However, before either of them could try something else, both Joseph's and Cardin's (and by extension, the rest of the dining hall's students.) attention were brought to Miss Goodwitch, who had shown up while the two were fighting and was now giving the two boys a look that could almost kill.

"I'm sure I don't need to remind either of you young men that the both of you are attending a school that very few have the honor of going to. Since this didn't escalate too much, I'll let the both of you off with a warning."

"WHAT!? Are you kidding me! He just punched me in the face-!"

"Yes, and during all the excitement, I was also told of how you were bothering one of our students beforehand. So please don't try to play innocent with me, Mr. Winchester." Goodwitch retorted, glaring at Cardin, who couldn't help but feel uncomfortable under the blonde instructor's gaze.

"HA!" Joseph laughed, jabbing a finger at Cardin. "Delaaayed karma on your part motherf-"

"Don't think you're blameless either, Mr. Joestar." Goodwitch interrupted, turning her gaze towards Joseph. "Like I said before, this is a school very few have the pleasure of going to. Starting fights like this gives it a bad name! If I find you causing more trouble like you've done _countless times_ during the few days you've been here, then you are going to end up with some _**very serious problems.**_ Do you understand?"

"Uh… yeah. Crystal clear." Joseph managed, not comfortable with the glare Goodwitch was giving him in the slightest. When she knew that she managed to get her message across, the blonde instructor proceeded to give a nod in acknowledgement before walking away and out of the dining hall. Joseph was about to walk back to his friend's table when he felt somebody grab onto his shoulder and turn him around. When he did, The Joestar was greeted with Cardin giving him a glare that conveyed a lot of hatred.

"This isn't over asshole. Not by a long shot. Understand?" Upon hearing this, Joseph could only smile mockingly at the team leader.

"Man! Nice threat buddy! If only you actually came off as imposing, then I _might've_ been intimidated there~!" And with that gleeful comment, Joseph gave the furious Cardin a friendly pat on the shoulder before returning to his friend's table.

' _Oh just you wait smartass. You're gonna regret messing with me.'_ **(1)**

* * *

 _'y'know… now that I think of it, I haven't really gotten to fight anybody here yet…'_ Joseph thought as he watched Weiss and Yang duke it out on the Amphitheater's stage. The sparring match between the two had been going on for some time with both sides currently at a stalemate. Weiss was able to keep Yang at a safe distance thanks to her glyphs, but the blonde brawler was able to easily get out of the range of any attack glyphs the heiress spawned. That being said, it seemed that any glyphs that were spawned closer to Weiss seemed to be more durable and powerful, because any attempts Yang made to get close to the heiress and attack were all met with a shielding glyph that the blonde was unable to break.

However, as the match went on, Yang seemed to have decided on a different tactic.

As Weiss began to spawn more attack glyphs to injure Yang, she suddenly didn't make any effort to dodge the area of effect spells. Instead, the blonde actually _**「**_ _ **took the brunt of the attacks.**_ _ **」**_ The attacks clearly hurt Yang, as evidenced by the pained grimace on her face and her injured stance, but she still continued to make no effort to avoid the attacks.

Weiss, beginning to understand that Yang was likely planning something, decided in a burst of speed to deliver a final blow with her rapier to finish the match before her plan came into fruition. Since Yang clearly seemed to be injured, Weiss had figured that she could still get a decisive blow in despite whatever the brawler was planning.

It was just unfortunate that until that point, Weiss had never seen Yang's semblance in action.

Suddenly, just as Weiss had gotten into range and was about to hit Yang with her Rapier, the blonde was able to stop the white-haired girl with one fluent block. Surprised by the sudden burst of energy, Weiss attempted to get out of Yang's range, but before she could, the blonde suddenly grabbed hold of rapier's blade with her left hand before she slammed her right hand into the white haired girl's face.

"GGRH!" Weiss grunted as the force of the punch sent her flying to the other side of the amphitheater. Thinking quickly, the heiress spawned one of her glyphs behind her, bringing her flight to a stop and cushioning her landing. However, she didn't have much time to catch her breath before she suddenly had to dodge yet another punch that came her way. After using another glyph to put some distance between herself and Yang, Weiss was able to get a good look at her opponent's face, and was surprised by what she saw. Instead of her eyes being the calm shade of lilac they usually were, they were now a burning shade of bright-red. Yang's eyes combined with the manic smile she had on her face seemed to indicate that things weren't going to go well for Weiss from this point forward.

Suddenly, in a burst of speed, Yang sprinted towards Weiss with her right armed poised to perform a concentrated punch. Reacting quickly, Weiss put a glyph between herself and the blonde to stop her, but was surprised when Yang punched through her glyph like it was absolutely nothing. Before Weiss could attempt to do anything else, Yang quickly followed up with a punch to the gut, knocking the air out of the heiress and causing her to slump to the ground.

"Alright, that's more than enough, Ms. Xiao Long. The match is yours." Ms. Goodwitch announced, calling off the sparring match between the two girls. Upon hearing this, Yang then proceeded to close her eyes and take a deep breath. When she opened them again, her eyes were back to their usual shade of lilac. Now that she had properly calmed down and that the effects of her semblance wore off, she went over to Weiss and helped her teammate up.

"Well, that was a lot of fun~! You alright Weiss?" Yang asked, helping her teammate up. In response, Weiss could only groan before rubbing her jaw and spitting out a glob of blood.

"I feel sore all over, but I'm actually feeling more surprised than anything that you somehow didn't dislocate my jaw…" Upon hearing this, Yang could only chuckle nervously as she helped Weiss off the stage.

"Uh… heh. Sorry about that, I kinda tend to get carried away whenever I use my semblance when fighting…. or whenever I just fight in general." Yang admitted. Although Weiss didn't seem too upset about her injuries. Once the two were off the stage, Ms. Goodwitch looked towards the audience and spoke up.

"Now, since that sparring match took longer than anticipated, I'm afraid we only have time for one more today. Do we have any volunteers?" Upon hearing this, Joseph figured this was as good a time as any to see how well his Hamon and semblance compared to the abilities and weapons of a hunter.

"I'll take you up on that offer, teach!" Joseph spoke up, taking off his scarf before walking up onto the amphitheater stage. Without his scarf, Joseph was now left in a pair of pants and tank-top that were both a matching shade of light purple. He also had on a matching set of black gauntlets and boots. Upon seeing that she had one volunteer, the blonde instructor gave a nod in confirmation before looking towards the rest of the students.

"Alright, that's one. Is there anybody else?" For a moment, it seemed nobody else was was going volunteer, until Ruby suddenly stood up and made her way onto the stage. Once she did so, the red-clad girl brought her scythe rifle out into it's scythe form and spoke up.

"I'll do it Ms. Goodwitch!" Ruby said, a smile on her face as she looked towards Joseph and Ms. Goodwitch.

"You? You sure you wanna do this Ruby? I don't plan on pulling any punches here." Joseph admitted, looking towards the leader of Team RWBY curiously. In response, Ruby's smile gained a cocky expression to it before she responded.

"I'm think I'm more than fast enough to take on a big guy like you, JoJo!" Ruby taunted, which only caused Joseph to smirk challengingly.

"Alright! Alright! Save the trash talk for the actual match!" Joseph said as he cracked his knuckles. "Now let's get this show on the road!"

"Do the both of you have your scrolls ready?" Ms. Goodwitch asked the two participants. In response, both Joseph and Ruby brought out their scrolls and switched them on, each scroll showing a portrait of themselves along with what could be described as a 'Life Meter'. As soon as the scrolls were turned on, the screens showing their pictures along with the life meters appeared overhead on the screen above them. If Joseph was going to be perfectly honest, this whole thing seemed like some kind of Japanese fighting tournament, or something along those lines.

"You may now both _**begin!"**_

 _ **-To be continued...**_

* * *

 **Intermission 1: How Joseph discovered Hermit Purple's spirit photography.**

"Well, today's been a pretty slow day." Jaune reflected idly as he and Ren walked out of professor Oobleck's classroom. Due to conflicting schedules, both the blonde knight and his black-haired friend were the only members of Team JNPR attending the overly-energetic professor's history class. Apparently, Pyrrha, Nora, and Team RWBY as well all had combat training as their final class for the day.

"Yeah, it has been pretty uneventful today." Ren noted simply before adding something in as an afterthought. "Say, have you seen any sign of Joseph? I haven't seen him at all today." Ren asked, causing Jaune to perk up in slight surprise.

"Huh, now that I think of it, I haven't ran into him today either. Which is weird since we were supposed to have a few classes together…" Jaune answered, curious as to where the eccentric brunet had been all day.

"Well, if I had to guess, he's either sick, or skipping classes, and considering what type of person Joseph is…" Ren didn't need to finish that sentence as Jaune was well aware of what he was implying.

"Pfft! Yeah, you got that right! He really does like just fooling around." Jaune chuckled, knowing very well that Joseph likely just cut class. "But you gotta admit, he probably had a more interesting day than us."

"Ya got that right! Fortunately for you guys, I'm more than happy to share some of my wonderful experiences with my two buddies!"

Upon hearing a gleeful voice come from right behind them, both Jaune and even Ren jumped at the sudden intrusion to their conversation. Looking behind them, they were greeted with Joseph's smiling visage. Currently, the brunet was dressed up in a green variant of the costume he was wearing during the day he arrived at Beacon and had a large, light brown sack hoisted over his shoulder, seemingly filled to the brim with a lot of objects.

"Joseph," Ren began, having recovered from his initial shock. "Would it kill you to just come up to us like a normal person instead of nearly giving Jaune a heart attack?" He deadpanned, although his dry remark did little to put a damper on Joseph's oddly excited mood.

"Ah, and where would the fun in that be?" Joseph dismissed before continuing. "Anyway, you two gotta come with me _**right now**_ , I have something _**very important**_ I need to show the both of you and we're strapped for time." And with that statement, Joseph sprinted past his two friends and towards the door that lead out to the courtyard.

"W-Wait a minute! Where have you even been man? We haven't seen you all day!" Jaune's question only caused Joseph to come to a halt and look towards his two teammates with annoyance clear on his face.

"What part of 'We're strapped for time' do you guys not understand?! Get the concrete out of your shoes and hurry it up! We don't got much time!" And with that far more annoyed statement, Joseph burst open the doors to the courtyard and ran towards the dormitory, ignoring all the stares the various other students were giving him.

"Well… this should be interesting…" Ren commented as he began to follow after Joseph.

"...Why do I get the feeling we're gonna regret this…" Jaune sighed as he began to follow after Joseph as well.

* * *

"Okay, we followed you, are you happy now?" Jaune gasped as he finally managed to catch up to Joseph and Ren. Taking a better look at his surroundings, the leader of Team JNPR saw that Joseph lead him and Ren to a secluded hallway in the dormitories, giving the three of them some privacy.

"Now can you please tell us just what's going on with you? Where have you been man!? What's with the giant sack!? And just what are you trying to show us!?" These questions only caused Joseph's smile to broaden as he began to opened up the sack, revealing that it was filled with some caveman-tech _**Polaroid Cameras**_ , of all things.

"All very good questions, Jauney boy! So allow me to start from the top: Basically, I decided I was gonna take the day off today and see what the city of Vale had to offer a strapping young man like myself. Eventually, my travels led to this old antique shop that was just filled to the brim with awesome stuff!" Joseph explained as he took one of the cameras and held it in front of the two boys to see. Upon closer inspection, Ren noticed a tag on the camera that said it came from the _**'Dusty old Antique shop'**_ located in Vale's shopping district.

"I ended up happening upon one of these cameras and they just struck a chord with me, so I decided to buy it!" As Joseph said this, his face suddenly turned deadly serious before continuing.

"HOWEVER! The damn store owner's price for them just pissed me off _way too much_ , so I decided to take the bastard down a few pegs!" Considering how many cameras Joseph had on him and that victorious smirk that was on his face, Jaune couldn't help but wonder what the hell the Joestar said that would make the store owner give up so many cameras.

"Long story short, after god knows how many swears, glares, and false accusations, the cheapskate ended up selling me his entire stock of cameras for the same price of one!" Joseph explained, causing Jaune to look at him in pure confusion and Ren to pinch the bridge of his nose, clearly exasperated.

"Alright… now could you please explain to us why this was so important?" Ren asked. This entire event making him wonder if Joseph wasn't some sort of long-lost relative of Nora.

"It's important because these cameras showed me what Hermit Purple's special power is!" Joseph explained, sprouting the purple vines out of his left hand as he said this. This statement caused Jaune and Ren to look at him in surprise.

"Wait, special ability!? I thought your Semblance's special ability was just spawning those things! Are you saying they can do something else?" Jaune was still having difficulty trying to figure out just how Semblances worked, so this all came as a surprise to the blonde. Ren was also surprised by this statement, but he made sure it didn't show. In response to this question, a knowing smiling made it's way onto Joseph's face before he suddenly karate chopped the camera he was holding with Hermit Purple. The force of the impact crushed the camera and caused the same electricity that Ren and Jaune saw on Joseph multiple times to radiate through the device. The electricity continued to radiate through the camera for another second before it suddenly stopped and a single picture popped out of the ruined camera. As soon as it came out, Joseph took the picture and began to wave it before he continued.

"As it turns out, my Hermit Purple possesses some kind of 「Spirit Photography!」Essentially, as long as I break one of these Cameras and have somebody in mind, I can get a picture of that person no matter where they are!" Joseph explained, looking at the picture as it started to clear up.

"Wait, you're saying that your semblance can get you a picture of anybody you want, no matter where they are!?" Ren asked incredulously. With the way this conversation was heading, it seemed like Joseph was going to end up a threat to national security. Joseph ignored this question in favor of looking at the picture, which had finally cleared up. Joseph could only smile mischievously at the picture before he looked towards Jaune and Ren with a piercing gaze.

"Alright, before I continue, I want the both of you two swear that the contents of these photos stays between us, got it? We can _**not**_ let anybody find out about this or else I'll be in some serious shit. Do you both understand?" They were both put off by Joseph's sudden change in tone, but both agreed to his conditions, admittedly curious as to what Joseph had taken a picture of.

"So… di-did you take a picture of some sort of terrorist leader or something…?" Jaune asked, apprehension clear in his voice. Joseph only turned the picture towards the two, and they were both shocked by what they saw.

"No… I took a picture of something even more dangerous."

When he turned the picture around, Jaune and Ren were both shocked beyond words when they saw a picture of what looked like the locker room for the boys to use after training. The only difference between this and the version Ren and Jaune were familiar with was that the room had various girls in it, all of which were in a state of undress. Jaune and Ren were also shocked when they noticed both Team RWBY and the other two members of Team JNPR were there as well, and they were also in the middle of taking their clothes off.

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"Joseph…" Ren managed when he finally managed to regain his voice, no emotion in his tone.

"Yes~?" Joseph responded, a sly smile on his face. In no time flat, the black haired boy grabbed the Joestar by the head and made him look at him dead in the eyes.

"I would recommend you be very, _**VERY,**_ careful from here on out. You are playing with forces that could consume you almost immediately if you get reckless." The ice-cold tone in Ren's voice didn't sway the smile on Joseph's face however.

"Ren, buddy, _pal~_. You're acting like I don't know what I'm doing! I got this man!" This statement only caused Ren to tighten his hold on Joseph before he continued, a greater sense of urgency in his voice.

"I am _**trying**_ to help you, _you jackass!_ Are you _aware_ of the ungodly consequences there will be if one of the teachers, or worse, one of _**the girls,**_ finds out you're doing something like this!? There will be _**hell to pay**_ Joseph, and nobody will be able to save you when that happens!" Power like this was dangerous, and Ren felt that he had to warn Joseph of the consequences there would be if anybody found him doing something like this with this power. Fortunately, it seemed that the black-haired boy was actually getting through to the brunet.

"Okay, okay!" Joseph grumbled, prying Ren's hands off his head. "I get it! I'll stop using Hermit Purple to peep on girls, happy?" Ren let out a sigh of relief once he heard this.

"Very. I'm glad to see you're actually being sensible, right Jaune?... Jaune?" Looking to their blonde friend, who had been silent through their entire conversation, both Joseph and Ren were respectively amused and surprised by Jaune staring into space in a daze, blood dripping down his nose.

"Oh good god…" Ren sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "Alright, I'm gonna get him back to our room, we finished classes for today anyway, so it should be fine. You just clean up that broken camera and _for the love of god_ , burn that picture before anyone finds it, alright?" Joseph just gave a salute in response.

"Aye aye, sir! You can count on me! I'll see you both later!" Joseph said, continuing to spout reassurances until Ren was out of his site. Once the Joestar was certain he wouldn't have any interruptions from Ren, any other students, or _**Ms. Goodwitch**_ in an ungodly worst-case scenario, he brought another camera out of his bag. Summoning **Hermit Purple** once again, the muscular brunette repeated the motion he performed with the last camera and chopped down on the device with his ability. Once the broken camera created another photo, Joseph quickly grabbed onto it and took a look.

"Oh! Ho! HO! HO! HOOOOO!" Joseph gasped, a very broad and perverted grin creeping onto his face. For the purposes of keeping this fanfiction rated T, the contents of this picture will not be revealed, but let's just say what he was looking at was on par with that little peek of Lisa Lisa he took while she was bathing.

" _NIIICE~!"_

And after this, the girls of both Team RWBY and Team JNPR couldn't shake the feeling that somebody was watching them every now and again after combat practice.

* * *

 **JoJo/RWBY database**

 **Yang Xiao Long's semblance**

 **STATS**

 **Destructive Power: A**

 **Speed: C**

 **Range: D**

 **Durability: E**

 **Precision: A**

 **Developmental Potential: D**

 **Abilities**

 **Draws strength from hits: The feature that makes Yang's semblance so dangerous is the ability to get more powerful with each hit. The longer a fight goes on and the more damaged Yang becomes, the more her strength increases. This ability allows Yang to grow strong enough to even lift objects that are much larger and heavier than her with hardly any effort.**

* * *

 **this may come as a surprise, but I actually** _ **don't**_ **hate Cardin! He certainly came off as a prick in the whole 'Jaunedice' arc, but he did seem genuinely grateful when Jaune saved him from that Ursa. Plus, he and the rest of his team got their shit kicked in by Pyhrra, so they're karmically balanced in my book. I'm just trying to follow the episode accurately and make Joseph react accordingly in that situation, but I am sorry if he came off as one of those self righteous 'Mary Sue' type characters during that scene.**

 **So there you have it! I certainly hope that the lot of you enjoyed that little omake I created as well. For future reference, those are just fun little non-canon antics that Joseph and the RWBY characters will get into for fun.**

 **Also, I would like to take this moment to thank a reviewer who goes by the name Yimo for supplying me with the** 「」 **icon. I am just a sucker for those little dialogue things that you can find in JoJo, and I felt this added to the experience, so you can expect to see it more often in future chapters.**

 **Anyway, if any of you have any constructive criticism to give me or would just like to tell me their thoughts on the chapters, then I would love it if you reviewed or PMed me! In any case, I hope you all enjoyed this. Seeya!**

 **(I wonder if anybody will notice the little nods I left to Heritage For The Future...)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Holy shit! (or should I say: HOOOORRRY SHEEEEET?) I can't believe I made it to 100 favorites and follows! This is a freakin monumental moment for me, especially since this is the first of my stories to make it that far! I would just like to take this moment to say thank you to everybody who's read, reviewed, favorited, and followed this story so far. Having such great feedback for this story really encourages me to write about it. So in essence, I hope the lot of you continue to enjoy this story as well as Joseph's antics on Remnant!**

 **Disclaimer: lolrus555 owns neither JoJo's Bizarre Adventure nor RWBY. They are the property of Hirohiko Araki and Rooster Teeth respectively.**

 **Joseph Joestar: Hamon Hunter**

As soon as Goodwitch called on the match, the first thing both sides did was circle around each other, neither of them taking eye contact off each other. In a fight, one of the most important factors is just who makes the first move. While it doesn't decide the victor, the first move either side makes heavily influences just where the tide of battle will turn, and currently, it seemed neither Joseph nor Ruby were in a rush to make the first move.

' _Rushing headfirst into trouble has never really ended with good results so far, so I'm better off waiting things out right now…'_ Ruby thought as she relished in the cold feel of Crescent Rose's metal on her hands. Suddenly, the silent standoff between the two was broken when Joseph suddenly brought out his clackers, a confident grin clear on his face. As soon as he did this, the muscular brunette began to swing his arms around in an elaborate fashion, which in turn led to his steel balls swinging around him at a breakneck speed, and despite how fast they were going and how they were swinging around in practically every direction, Joseph didn't seem worried in the slightest that one of the clackers might hit him.

 ***FWIP***

' _What the!?'_

"Pretty cool, huh~?"

Suddenly, in one fluid motion, the clackers seemingly disappeared behind behind Joseph's back. Ruby, who was caught off guard by the disappearance of the steel balls, tried to circle around Joseph to get a better look at whatever he was planning, but the Joestar wouldn't have any of that, merely mimicking the silver-eyed girl's motions so she wouldn't get a better look. This motion allowed the audience watching them to see exactly what he had done.

"...Weiss…" Yang whispered, impress clear in her voice. "Are we looking at the same thing here?"

"...Yup…" Weiss confirmed, sounding equally impressed. "Makes you really wonder just how in the hell he manages to pull these stunts off…"

From the crowd's point of view, everybody was clearly able to see that Joseph had somehow managed to angle the clackers into the perfect trajectory so that they were now _**「**_ _ **stuck to his back**_ _ **」**_. From the looks of it, the slightest change in the angle of the brunnet's arms would cause the clackers to go flying off of his back.

"'Where the hell did the clackers go!?' That's what you're wondering, right~?" Joseph spoke up suddenly, bringing the crowd's attention back to the match. Currently, the Joestar seemed to have addressed the very question that had been on Ruby's mind ever since he pulled this little trick.

"Well Rubes, I would tell you, but a true magician…" As Joseph said this, he tilted his arms downward.

"NEVER REVEALS HIS SECRETS!" Which in turn caused the steel balls to come flying out from behind his back and straight towards Ruby.

"YIPE!" Surprised, but reacting instinctively, Ruby quickly blocked all four of the steel balls with Crescent Rose before attempting to back away. Refusing to let up on his assault, Joseph quickly followed after her, swinging his clackers at her in a flurry of yellow lighting and steel. Despite the unrelenting assault that was being forced onto her, Ruby still managed to parry all of the clacker strikes with the blade of her scythe. As she did this, the silver eyed girl waited for a slip up in Joseph's technique to strike, and when the speed of the clacker volley began to slow down, she knew that her opportunity was close at hand.

' _He's winding back! NOW'S MY CHANCE!'_ As Joseph began to wind back both his arms for another assault, Ruby took the chance to strike. Activating her Semblance, the red clad girl rushed towards Joseph in a flurry of rose petals and jammed the butt of her scythe into his gut, knocking the air out of the brunnet. Capitalizing on opening, Ruby began to slice and shoot at Joseph with a series of intricate and elegant strikes, each blow sending the Joestar back a step. She continued her assault until the both of them were eventually underneath the spotlight in the center of the stage. When she felt she had done enough damage, Ruby decided to finish her attack on Joseph by firing a shot towards the ground and using the trajectory to kick the purple-clad young man square in the chin.

"OURGH!" Joseph gargled as he got sent flying backwards, the kick being so powerful that it caused blood to fly out of his mouth and his clackers to fly upwards out of his grasp. Despite the pain coursing through his body, Joseph was still able to focus and was able to regain his balance mid flight, allowing him to land on his feet and hands. However, the Joestar hardly had any time to recover before Ruby was upon him once more.

"Oh shit!" Joseph gasped as he dodged out of the way of another scythe swipe, barely having any time to react before Ruby sent either another swipe or shot his way. Now that he managed to regain his focus, Joseph was now able to avoid the brunt of Ruby's elegant strikes, but with the speed and composure behind her attacks combined, he was unsure if he would be able to keep this up for much longer. It was at this point during the fight that Weiss noticed something strange.

' _It's been close to a minute… where did those clackers go? Did they get stuck on the scaffolding or something?'_ True to Weiss's internal word, the clackers had seemingly disappeared from the arena ever since they slipped out of Joseph's grasp. In the heat of such an intense fight, nobody seemed to have noticed the disappearance of the steel balls, but this little anomaly hadn't gone unnoticed by Weiss. Looking around the area to see where the weapons had gone, the heiress eventually looked upwards, and couldn't believe what she saw when she did.

' _Seriously... how in the hell does he pull this shit off?'_

As the fight between the two had gone on, Joseph found himself once again in the center of the stage, with Ruby bringing her weapon down upon him once more.

"WOAH! Shit!" Without enough time to properly dodge the blade of the scythe, Joseph channeled his hamon into his palms and caught the blade between his hands. This in turn caused a power struggle between the two opponents. Despite Ruby steadily beginning to gain the upper hand on him, a broad, toothy smile made it's way onto Joseph's face.

"Hehe… I played a little trick on _youuuu~!"_ Joseph taunted in a singsong voice, causing Ruby to widen her eyes in confusion and surprise.

"W-Wha-!?"

"Look up."

Instinctively doing what he said, Ruby immediately looked up towards the ceiling of the amphitheater, and was surprised to see that Joseph's clackers were somehow _**「**_ _ **strung up and spinning**_ _ **」**_ on the ceiling's scaffolding.

 ***THOOWP-THP***

Suddenly, just as everybody's attention was brought to them, the set of clackers that had been spinning in place suddenly detached from the other pair and came throttling towards Ruby. Like a deer in headlights, the leader of team RWBY was too shocked to react as the hamon charged steel balls smashed right into her scalp before miraculously bouncing back into Joseph's hands.

"OUUUUCH!" Ruby cried out, unable to help herself as she fell to her knees and clutched onto her scalp, the leftover hamon charge from the clackers leaving sparks of electricity bouncing around her.

"Looks like my clacker boomerang works vertically as well~! Now to finish you off!" Joseph declaredas he sprinted towards Ruby with left hand clenched tightly, sparks of hamon radiating throughout it. As soon as the silver-eyed girl saw the freight train of a man coming at her, she attempted to dodge out of the way, but found that her legs were being unresponsive.

' _What!? I can barely move!'_ Ruby thought frantically as she tried to get up, still to no avail as the electricity continued to course through her.

' _It must be that electricity that's doing this! Just what is that stuff anyway!?'_ Ruby thought as curiosity began to nip at her despite the circumstances. From what the silver-eyed girl had seen of Joseph so far, he had been able to use that strange energy he radiated for a variety of incredibly neat purposes, and the fact that it wasn't even his semblance and that he was so tight-lipped about the energy only fueled the excitable girl's curiosity. However, Ruby didn't have much time to ponder this before Joseph slammed his fist into her chin. As the hot blooded Joestar began to put more force into his punch, the electricity radiating off his fist began to change from a bright-yellow hue to a dark-orange one.

 _ **「"**_ _ **SCARLET OVERDRIVE!"**_ _ **」**_

As Joseph screamed this out, he suddenly leaped into the air with his fist still raised, sending Ruby flying to the other end of the amphitheater.

"GRR-humph!" Ruby ground out as she regained her balance mid-flight, allowing her to land feet first. As soon as her feet touched solid ground, the 15-year old swung her cape to the side, sending the dust it had accumulated during the fight flying off her as well as putting out the small fires that lit up on it, courtesy of Joseph's _**「**_ _ **Scarlet Overdrive.**_ _ **」**_

"Okay, no more Mrs. Nice Girl now!" Ruby huffed, glaring at Joseph, who only smirked challengingly in return. Seeing that taunting would get neither of them anywhere, Ruby decided to skip the theatrics and move onto her main attack.

Suddenly, Ruby disappeared in a blur of red and black, leaving only a bunch of falling rose petals to indicate that she had ever been there in the first place.

' _Oh shit! She's using that Semblance thing of hers!'_ Joseph thought as he quickly looked all around the amphitheater stage, trying to see where Ruby had went.

 ***Slice***

"What!?"

However, as Joseph continued his search, a series of rose petals appeared all around him and he felt something dripping down his forearm. Quickly looking over to it, he found that a shallow cut had suddenly appeared there, blood already dripping down it.

 ***Slice***

"Dammit! Again!?"

As soon as Joseph noticed the cut, another one suddenly appeared on him, this time located on his abdomen. At this point, the Joestar once again tried to locate Ruby, or at least find some indication as to where she would appear next, but he found that while he had been paying attention to his wounds, the rose petals from the silver-eyed girl's semblance had completely covered the amphitheater's stage.

"I'm… not really sure what Ruby is doing, but whatever it is, it seems to be working." Yang mumbled as she watched the match intently.

"I do, and it's a pretty clever trick on her part." Blake suddenly spoke up, her eyes still on the amphitheater stage and the struggling Joseph, who was steadily getting more shallow cuts on his body. When she noticed Weiss and Yang looking at her questioningly, she continued.

"Don't you see? Ruby's semblance is fast and powerful, but it also leaves a trail." Blake explained, referring to the rose petals that always appeared in Ruby's wake when she activated her semblance. "As long as their reflexes are good enough, anybody could eventually predict where she would go and strike accordingly. By spreading her rose petals around the entire stage like this, _ **she's effectively camouflaging her presence from Joseph.**_ On top of all that, she's not taking any risks by going in for a damaging blow, but doing something that's just as effective."

"What? How is making a bunch of shallow cuts like that just as effective as a major blow?" Yang asked, growing confused. In response to this question, Blake motioned for the blonde to look towards Joseph, who was putting pressure on his wounds and looking frantically around the stage for some trace of Ruby's figure.

"Take a close look at those cuts, Yang. What do they all have in common?"

Doing as Blake told her, Yang took a good look at all of the cuts on Joseph's body, and after a second realized what the black-haired girl was talking about.

"I get it now…! His cuts, they're all bleeding! If Ruby keeps this up, _**Joseph will eventually just pass out from blood loss!**_ Good thinking little sis~!" Yang noted, a proud smile creeping onto her face. Weiss also seemed to have been impressed with this plan, if the faint surprise on her face was any indication. Blake didn't say anything in response, merely continuing to watch the match go on with interest.

' _Okay, this is_ _ **really**_ _starting to get on my nerves now!'_ Joseph thought angrily as he clutched onto his bleeding cuts. It had been close to a minute and Joseph still hadn't managed to land a blow on Ruby after she activated her semblance. Not only that, but he was starting to feel really light-headed too! If he didn't think of anything to counter the silver eyed girl's semblance soon, then there was no way he would win. However, as the brunette felt another cut suddenly appear on him, this time on his chest, an idea suddenly made it's way into his head.

' _Alright, I've never tried anything like this until now, so there's a very likely chance that it could blow up in my face, but then again, when has that ever stopped me?'_

And with that thought in the back of his head, Joseph began to spawn _**「**_ _ **Hermit Purple's**_ _ **」**_ vines all around his torso and legs. Making sure that nobody, especially any silver-eyed girls, would notice them, the muscular teen made it so that the purple vines didn't appear over his clothes. Once Joseph was certain that nobody would notice the vines, he worked his magic and surged his Hamon through every single vine.

 ***ZAP* *KRRRT-ZZZ***

"WHA-!?"

That certainly did the trick.

Only a few seconds after Joseph surged his hamon through _**「**_ _ **Hermit Purple,**_ _ **」**_ the energy was immediately transferred to a both literally and figuratively shocked Ruby, who attempted to slice the Joestar on his legs once again, only for her scythe's blade to connect with the hamon-charged _**「**_ _ **Hermit Purple,**_ _ **」**_ transferring the energy over to the scythe's wielder.

"I got you now! _ **「**_ _ **HERMIT PURPLE OVERDRIVE!**_ _ **」**_ " As soon in Joseph yelled this out, he wasted no time in kicking Ruby backwards before extending his arm and ensnaring her in _**「**_ _ **Hermit Purple's**_ _ **」**_ _ **vines.**_

" **Kohhhhh!"**

Joseph then proceeded to deliver several bolts of hamon into her before giving the vines a mighty tug, sending Ruby flying towards him. Without skipping a beat, Joseph quickly brought out the single pair of clackers he still had and rammed the hamon charged volley right in her direction. When he felt the volley connect with Ruby's torso, the Joestar finished up the attack by winding up and performing the volley once again, this time in an overhead motion resembling an uppercut.

"GAH!"

The force of the impact was so powerful that it sent Ruby flying into the wall in the back of the stage. She tried to get up soon after, but her injuries were just too great, rendering her immobile.

"Hah…! Hah…! YEAH! What now!?" Joseph gasped as he staggered slightly towards where Ruby was struggling to get up, extending his arms in a challenging gesture. However, as Ruby continued to try and get up, Joseph noticed that the light-headedness he felt before seemed much more prominent now.

"Huh… that's funny. I'm kinda starting to feel a bit drow- _ **OH! MY! GOOOD!"**_ Joseph gasped in horror when he turned towards the audience, a terrified look on his face.

"Everybody in the audience has turned into a _**pitch-black silhouette!**_ THIS MUST BE THE WORK OF AN ENemy stablegh…" Before Joseph could finish whatever he was going to say, he suddenly fell face-first onto the ground, showing no sign of movement.

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After he passed out, an odd moment of silence passed over the entire amphitheater. Everybody present was either too busy trying to decipher just what the hell Joseph was trying to say or was just at an utter loss for words, something that the members of Team RWBY had found they had been doing all too often ever since the muscular brunette came into their lives. When Yang managed to regain her voice, she said the same thing that had been on a lot of people's minds currently.

"...Is he alright?"

"A-hem!" Miss. Goodwitch began offhandedly when she realized that the match had been more or less decided.

"Well, since both Mr. Joestar and Ms. Rose are no longer able to fight, I'm afraid that this match is now a draw." The instructor explained as Ruby slowly began to regain her footing. **(1)**

"Now, I hope everybody watching was paying attention, because the both of them showed the skill and aptitude that is required to become a proper hunter. In any case, that will be our final match for the day." Goodwitch finished before looking towards Yang, Weiss, and Blake.

"Now, would the three of you help your teammates over to the infirmary? I don't think either of them are in any condition to do so themselves." Upon seeing the three of them nod in confirmation, the blonde huntress turned off the screens above the stage and took her leave.

"Alright, Weiss, you make sure Ruby is alright. Blake, you come help me get JoJo up." When the both of them agreed with that course of action, Weiss went over to offer a shoulder for Ruby while Yang and Blake went over to Joseph, who was beginning to stir from his brief lapse into unconsciousness.

"Alright big guy, c'mon. We gotta get you to the infirmary." Yang said, putting Joseph's scarf back on his neck before putting one of his arms over her shoulders, taking care not to get any blood on her.

"Urghh… did… did I win…?" Joseph slurred out, barely conscious as Blake and Yang helped him out of the amphitheater.

"No, it was a draw, and it certainly shows too! I feel sore everywhere!" Ruby whined as Weiss helped her walk.

"Sooorrrrrrry..." Joseph drawled, the blood loss still making him feel very woozy.

"I've got to hand it to you though," Weiss started when the others were out of earshot. "That trick you pulled with your rose petals was very impressive. Although… considering what happened during initiations, I suppose these plans of yours shouldn't come off as much of a surprise anymore."

"Aw~! You really think so? Thanks Weiss!" Ruby said happily, smiling despite her injuries. If there was at least one silver lining to this little sparring exercise, it had to be that she was able to impress her teammates.

"Alright, alright. Just don't let it get to your head."

* * *

By the time Joseph had been considered stable enough to leave the infirmary, the sun had already set, leaving the academy's outside area illuminated by the nearby street lights as well as the glowing green light located in the central tower of the school. When he began to feel the light-headedness overcome him once again, Joseph quickly took a seat at a nearby bench before he lost his footing.

"Blegh… I spent all day napping and I STILL feel drowsy. With skills like those, it's no wonder Ruby got into this school two years early…" Joseph reflected as he looked up at the night sky. Currently, all the stars were out and the Joestar was given a good look at Remnant's shattered moon.

' _What the hell IS up with that moon, anyway? The goddamn thing has chunks of it scattering around it, and nobody even bats an eye towards it.'_ Joseph thought before he let out an irritated sigh. _'Then again, I guess whatever's wrong with that thing is common knowledge around here. Maybe I should ask Ozpin about it when I get the chance... Now that I think of it, that asshole has barely even told me a thing about this world! I didn't even know people could have animal ears until I found out the hard way!'_

As Joseph continued to think about the many things he didn't know about Remnant, he was unable to notice the two girls that had been walking nearby. When one of the girls, the same one with the rabbit ears from earlier, noticed him sitting on the bench, she immediately froze, drawing the attention of her friend, who looked at her questioningly through her sunglasses.

"What? Something wrong Velvet?"

"Well… u-uhm… that guy sitting on the bench over there…" The girl, whose name was revealed as Velvet, managed, a slight rosy tint making it's way onto her face, something that didn't go unnoticed by her friend.

"Ohhh, I get it. So he's the one you were telling me about earlier, huh?" Velvet's friend noted, a knowing smile beginning to show up on her face.

"Well? Aren't you gonna go thank him for helping you?" She asked, causing Velvet to look at her in surprise.

"O-Oh! Well, I would Coco, but… he does seem kinda busy at the moment…" This weak explanation only caused the girl, whose name was revealed to be Coco, to raise an eyebrow at Velvet before speaking up once more.

"Well if by busy, you mean sitting on his ass doing nothing important, then yeah, it looks like he has a full schedule." Coco deadpanned. Velvet only fidgeted in response before she immediately tried to walk in the opposite direction of Joseph. However, she was stopped when an exasperated Coco grabbed her by the shoulder.

"Oh for the love of god. Could you just stop being a pansy for just _five seconds_ and go talk to the guy? I thought you said you really appreciated what he did for you?" In response to this, Velvet stopped struggling and let out a small sigh.

"Okay, fine Coco, you win, I'll do it." Velvet sighed. "I'm just a little nervous." The bunny faunus explained before looking apprehensively at Joseph, who was none the wiser of the two girls' presence.

"Look, he started a fight with those assholes because they were picking on you. I kinda doubt that you have anything to worry about here." And before Velvet could react, Coco quickly pushed the girl in Joseph's direction.

"W-WHOA! Hey! Coco!" It was at this point that Joseph finally became aware that he wasn't alone. Looking towards his left, he saw a brown haired girl with rabbit ears stumble towards him before she managed to regain her balance.

"Uh… there something you need lady?" Upon hearing herself get addressed, the rabbit faunus straightened herself up hastily before looking towards Joseph, anxiety clear in her eyes.

"W-Well… I noticed you were nearby and I just wanted to say thank you for helping me…" Velvet managed, slowly beginning to steady her voice out.

"Really now?" Joseph asked rhetorically as he gave the rabbit girl a questioning look.

"Yes, really. It was… pretty refreshing to have somebody just stick up for me like that out of the blue. Nobody else was trying to help me back there and I really do appreciate what you did for me." Velvet continued, a warm smile beginning to show up on her face.

"Ah, don't worry about it! It was all in a day's work for somebody like me! But uhh..., I just have one question that I can't quite put my finger on currently, so would you mind clearing this up?" Joseph asked, rubbing his chin in a thoughtful manner as he stood up, crossed his legs in a subtle pose and looked at the girl.

"Of course! What's your question?" Velvet responded, her posture beginning to grow more confident as the conversation continued.

"Who are you again?"

And just like that, all the confidence that Velvet had steadily gained over the course of this conversation vanished in the blink of an eye.

' _Hoo boy, Velvet. I can see you really caught yourself a keeper here.'_ Coco thought as she watched the unfolding events with a deadpan look on her face. Although that was just a thin facade for the great amusement she was getting out of this whole thing.

"W-WHAT!? Are you really saying you don't remember me!?" Velvet stuttered out, completely bewildered by what she was hearing. You would think that he would remember her, considering he started a fight with Team CRDL in the middle of the dining hall on her account. However, it seemed that wasn't the case with Joseph.

"Look lady, I have pretty terrible memory when it comes to anything that isn't threatening my life." Joseph said simply. "So why don't we just get down to brass tacks here and you just explain how you know me, eh?"

"You honestly don't remember…?" Velvet asked, and when the questioning look on Joseph's face didn't fade, she let out a small sigh before continuing. "At the dining hall. You picked a fight with Cardin because he and his team were messing with me."

"OHH! _That!_ " Joseph said in realization, looking at Velvet in recognition. "Yeah, I remember now, I thought those ears looked familiar. I can't believe I could've forgotten such a pretty face. Sorry about that, Miss…?"

"U-Uh… Velvet Scarlatina." Velvet introduced herself meekly, a small blush on her face at being called pretty.

"Name's Joseph Joestar. But you can call me JoJo if you want." Joseph said as he introduced himself, a friendly smirk on his face.

"Heh… alright, JoJo it is then." Velvet agreed with a smile. "In any case JoJo, I just wanted to say that I really do appreciate you defending me like that."

"Ah, no biggie. Those assholes needed to be taken down a few pegs anyway." Joseph said happily, enjoying the praise that was coming his way.

"You got that right, I would've beaten them down myself if I was there." Coco added in, walking up to Velvet and looking towards Joseph.

"Oh, that's right. JoJo, this is my friend Coco. Coco, this is Joseph Joe…"

"HOLY SHIT!"

"...Star." Velvet finished, Joseph's sudden screaming throwing her a bit off guard. Currently, the Joestar was looking at Coco with an astonished look on his face, which was starting to weird out the beret wearing girl.

"...Personal space mean anything to you, buddy?"

"That scarf you're wearing is made of pure silk, isn't it!?" This statement caused Coco's eyes to widen slightly, although you wouldn't be able to tell thanks to her sunglasses.

"You can tell just by looking at it?" Coco asked when the initial shock wore down.

"Of course I can! I'll have you know that as an avid fashion enthusiast I can tell just by looking. More than that!" Suddenly, Joseph then grabbed onto one end of the scarf and began to feel it's texture, much to Coco's chargin.

"Hey! You mind not tugging on it!?" Coco demanded angrily. Although her complaints fell upon deaf ears as Joseph just continued to feel up the texture of the scarf, an amazed look on his face.

"This texture! It's so smooth! All the threads interconnect so eloquently it's unreal! Where on Ear- I mean, where on Remnant did get this!?" At this point, both Velvet and Coco were at a loss for words.

' _This guy is just full of surprises, isn't he?'_ Coco thought before she lowered her sunglasses and spoke up once more.

"Y'know, at first glance, I wouldn't have taken a big guy like you for the 'Diva' type." Coco noted as she eyed Joseph, who only grew irritated in response.

"Answer the damn question! I _NEED_ to get my hands on a scarf like that!" Coco couldn't help but crack an amused smile at just how urgent Joseph was treating this entire matter. She herself was quite the fashion enthusiast, but it seemed the Joestar was much more passionate on the whole matter.

"Alright, easy big guy. No need to pop a blood vessel." Coco reassured before she reached into handbag and handed something to Joseph. "Here, take these. They weren't really my style anyway."

Upon closer examination, Joseph found that Coco seemingly gave him a small brown bag that was chock full of gold objects in various different different shapes.

"What the hell are these supposed to be?" Joseph asked as he took one of the objects out of the bag and examined it closely. This one in particular was square with **「** **an open palm** **」** in the middle of it.

"They're these gold pins that you can attach to your clothes. The same store where I bought this scarf and some of my favorite outfits had a sale on them, so I bought them on a whim. In retrospect, they weren't really my style, but I'm sure a diva like you can make them work." Coco explained as Joseph put the pin he was holding back inside the sack and tied it up.

"Huh… well, thanks for that, but you still haven't told me the name of this store yet. Care to fix that?" Joseph asked, getting back to the subject at hand.

"Okay, I'll tell you what. Mind if I see your scroll?" Coco asked, holding out her hand for the device. Joseph was a bit curious as to why she needed that strange device Ozpin gave him before he arrived at Beacon, but he didn't question it and merely gave the short-haired brunette the white tablet.

"Okay, so it's like this." Coco began as she opened up Joseph's scroll and began to navigate the interface. "A few months back, some eccentric clothes maker set up shop in the shopping district in Vale. I never met the guy personally and to be frank, I don't really know much about him either. Only that he goes by some foreign name. I think it was… 'Roman…?' 'Rohan…?' 'Araki…?' I dunno." As Coco continued her explanation, she finished up her business on Joseph's scroll. She made sure to hand it back to the muscular brunette before continuing.

"Anyway, the store goes by the title **「** **Lucky Land,** **」** and it's been pretty successful with the general public. This weekend, I was planning on going there with Velvet to get her some new clothes. You interested in tagging along?" Coco offered.

"Alright, sure. You've got me pretty interested in what they're selling anyway." Joseph answered, looking forward to adding some more taste to his wardrobe. Compared to the clothes he had back home, his current set of clothes were pretty drab by comparison.

"Nice," Coco smiled before pointing to his scroll. "As an FYI, I added you to Velvet's and my contacts and vice versa, so I'll make sure to contact you when we go." She explained. When Joseph took a look at his scroll, he could see Velvet and Coco's pictures on the transparent screen, indicating that they had been added to his contacts.

"Works for me," Joseph shrugged before putting his scroll away. "Well ladies, it's been nice talking to you both, but I think it's about time I go get some shut-eye, so I think I'll be seeing you both around."

"Whatever you say. Seeya Joestar." Coco said before turning around and going on her way.

"Goodbye JoJo, enjoy the rest of your evening." Velvet added in as well before going to catch up with Coco. Joseph merely gave a small wave before continuing on his way back to the dorms. As Coco and Velvet continued to head back to their dorm room as well, neither of them said a word. The silence continued for another moment before Coco decided to break the ice in the bluntest way imaginable.

"So… you've got the hots for him, don't you?"

This statement caused Velvet to fall flat on her face in pure shock. As soon as she got up, there was a bright red tint all over her face and she looked quite flustered to boot.

"C-COULD YOU BE ANY MORE BLUNT, COCO?!" Velvet stammered out, which only earned an amused chuckle out of Coco.

"Flustered much?" Coco asked coyly. "C'mon, we've been friends ever since our team formed up, Velv. You can be honest with me." Coco jokingly reassured, putting her arm around the flustered faunus.

"Well honestly…"Velvet paused for a moment before she looked back at Joseph's retreating form. "I'm not too sure just _what_ I feel about him. I really appreciate him sticking up for me before, but aside from that little conversation we had, I know next to nothing about him."

"Yeah, and what a first impression that was." Coco said, amused. It was amazing how just one conversation with Joseph was able to reveal that he was essentially a loudmouthed, fashion obsessed primadonna all in one go.

"But… I still wouldn't mind getting to know him a bit more. Regardless of whether or not I might… well... " When Coco just looked at her expectantly, Velvet sighed. "Please don't make me say it, Coco."

"Geeze, relax, will ya Velve~? You're way too high strung about all this if you ask me." Coco reassured, giving her long-time friend a rare, genuine smile on her part.

"Besides, even if you ARE into him, I can't say I blame you. I bet even Yatsuhashi would be jealous of that guy's figure." The blush that had finally faded away from Velvet's face then proceeded to come back with a vengeance.

"Coco, please don't tell me that when you say that, you're… well… interested in..." Velvet couldn't finish that sentence, too embarrassed to say it herself, and just hoped that Coco would be able to understand what she was implying.

And judging by the look of surprise on her face, she did. Fortunately.

"What? Oh, nah. I wouldn't look too deeply into what I said there, Velvet, I was just enjoying some of the eye candy he was offering. If we're gonna be real, being in a relationship with somebody like with him would just end with me going nuts. **(2)"**

* * *

"Alright, dorm sweet dorm." Joseph sighed as he stumbled into his dorm room before forcing the door closed. The walk back to his dorm room had been longer than anticipated, and this, combined with his exhaustion and recent blood loss, had left the Joestar very tired. The minute Joseph managed to get his boots off, he immediately threw his bag haphazardly to the floor before slumping onto his bed. He could practically feel all his muscles just melting in relief the minute he felt the soft texture of the matress. If you asked Joseph, nothing was quite as cathartic as just laying in your bed after a day of strenuous physical activity. And considering this is the opinion of a man who spent the last two months going around the world fighting vampires and cactus men, he was likely correct.

' _So… niiiice~... and comfy…'_ In what felt like seconds, the idea of just laying in his bed until he fell asleep was quickly growing more and more appealing.

' _Well,'_ Joseph thought as the last remnants of his consciousness began to fade away. _'Here's hoping that whatever happens in tonight's creepy-ass vision won't take away from a good night's sleep.'_

And unfortunately for Joseph, tonight's vision was going to do exactly that.

* * *

" _What… what on_ _ **「**_ _ **Remnant**_ _ **」**_ _just happened…?" Jonathan asked, indicating that this vision was going to pick up immediately where the last one left off._

" _Yeesh… what a mess." Speedwagon grimaced as he looked at Dio's slumped over corpse. "Well Mr. Joestar, if these were normal circumstances, I'd assume that the loone just snapped when he realized he was going to spend the rest of his days in a prison cell, but with all his screaming about 'Rejecting his humanity', it's hard to say just what he was trying to do."_

" _Oh god… Dio, why…?" George said mournfully as he looked as his adopted son's corpse. "Why would you do something like this to yourself…?" Despite what he had been planning, that he had every intention to murder himself and his son just to steal the family fortune, George still felt a humongous wave of grief as he looked at Dio's body. Realistically, the Joestar family patriarch knew that the corpse in front of him didn't deserve any tears to be shed for it, but he couldn't help himself. Despite his betrayal, George still saw Dio as his son, and seeing him like this just tore him up from the inside._

" _Lord Joestar, please, you shouldn't be seeing this." The police chief interjected. "You should head back to your chambers and get some rest, my men and I will take care of the body."_

" _The chief is right, father," Jonathan added, looking at George in concern. "Speedwagon and I still have to head to the police station with these men to answer their questions, but once I take care of that, I'll return to you as quickly as I can."_

" _I understand, JoJo." George said solemnly, turning towards the doorway to the foyer. "Please, be careful. Such misfortune has befallen this family tonight, the last thing I want is to lose you in addition to this betrayal."_

" _Father…" Jonathan said sadly, looking at his father's retreating form._

 _ ***FWIP***_

" _Wh-WHAT THE HELL!?"_

" _HE'S STILL ALIVE?!"_

 _D-Dio-"_

 _ ***F-CH***_

" _F…"_

 _ゴ_

 _ゴ_

 _ゴ_

 _ゴ_

" _Fa…" Jonathan could barely manage to get the word he was trying to say out of his mouth, all the emotions coming at him at once sent his mind haywire, because right now, he was looking at the unthinkable. His step-brother, who for all intents and purposes, was lying dead on the floor a few minutes ago, was now standing and active once more, with his_ _ **arm rammed through his father's torso.**_ _As if in reaction to his voice, Dio looked away from George's body, which he hoisted into the air with his arm, and straight at Jonathan. As soon as he did this, Dio's face went from one of neutrality to an evil smile that showed off two white fangs amid his teeth._

" _FAAAATHEEEEER!"_

" _ **WRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"**_

 _ **-To be continued...**_

* * *

1\. **I was initially going to have Joseph win, then Ruby win, then have Diavolo take a surprise victory out of nowhere, but I eventually just settled on it being a draw.**

 **2\. Okay, so this message right here is to act as reassurance towards anybody who's potentially concerned. Joseph Joestar: Hamon Hunter… will NOT turn into a harem story. The girls of RWBY will NOT suddenly decide that they're all in love with everybody's favorite beefcake after no more than two conversations with him. They will NOT turn into his fucking groupies, become completely useless, and cheer him on as he simultaneously beats the shit out of Torchwick, Adam Taurus, Mercury, makes Neo, Emerald, and Cinder all hot and bothered for him due to just being in his presence, and then cure cancer and bring peace to the world while the girls all agree that they want to get into some weird-ass polygamy relationship with him. I fucking HATE crossover stories that make the main character of whatever fucking franchise some overpowered badass with a Sasuke Uchiha personality transplant that can make every single female character fall for him by either being attracted to his body or finding his dream to "BE HOKAGE" or king of the pirates so awe inspiring that they want to abandon all skill and talent they have to become a member of his own personal harem. So let me just clear the whole pairing issue up right here. I DO in fact have a pairing in mind for Joseph, but there will be points in the story where a female character will be ogling him due to his… "fanservicey" tendencies. However, that's all it'll amount to. They won't suddenly decide Joseph is their soulmate just because he's jacked. It's just the effect Joseph has on people since he runs around posing in provocative clothes all the time.**

 **So anyway, some of you might be wondering just why this chapter took so long when compared to the other ones, and I have two very simple answers for you: The Metal Gear Solid HD collection and Dragon Ball Xenoverse. I managed to get my hands on both those games for my birthday and I have been playing the hell out of them. Plus, I also have a job, so that kinda takes up a bit of my time. But I really am sorry for the wait on this chapter, regardless of my excuses.**

 **So, in an unrelated subject, I just saw Heaven!DIO for Eyes of Heaven… and OHHHHHHHHHH:D! The fact that Araki made him with the old artstyle just makes me** _ **giddy!**_ **It gives me hope that maybe part 9 will start to lean towards the good ol' muscular manly men artstyle from the good ol' days. Nothing against the new artstyle, it's just that everybody kinda looks a bit… samey when you take a good look at their faces. Plus, I kinda find all the men wearing lipstick to be a bit off putting, but that's just me. With this in mind, after Eyes Of Heaven gets released in America, I'm thinking of making a sub story to JJHH revolving around this incarnation of Joseph and a few RWBY characters getting wrapped up in the plot of Eyes Of Heaven. Afterall, we already have FIVE DIOS, why not have nine JoJos? Or three Josephs?**

 **So, in any case, I just want to thank you all once again for reading and apologize once more for the longer wait with this chapter. Hopefully, I'll be able to get the next one out sooner. Seeya.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry about the wait everybody, but you know how life is. Regardless, I hope the length of this chapter makes up for the wait. It's about 25 pages if anyone's curious.**

 **Disclaimer: lolrus555 owns neither JoJo's Bizarre Adventure nor RWBY. They belong to Hirohiko Araki and Rooster Teeth, respectively**

 **Joseph Joestar: Hamon Hunter**

' _ **So this confirms it… that dagger is the same as the stone mask. The only difference is just how you use it on yourself.'**_ _Joseph thought grimly as Dio let out an ungodly vampiric screech at Jonathan._

" _Jo… Jo… Jonathan…" George, who was still strung up in the air via Dio's arm, croaked out, looking towards his son with pleading eyes._

" _F...Father…?" Jonathan whimpered, tears in his eyes and an ungodly feeling of helplessness coursing through him. His mind was still hardly able to wrap itself around all these sudden, catastrophic events. In the span of just one day, his life suddenly shifted into a nightmare, and it was all because of Dio. Dio, who had somehow managed to defy death itself and turned himself into something else entirely. Something that was pure,_ _ **unadulterated, evil.**_

" _R...Run… sa...ve yoursel...f…" This was all the Joestar family patriarch could muster out before what little remnants of life he had left finally left his body._

" _N… No… father... FATHEEER!" Jonathan cried out in agony as his father's body hung limp from Dio's arm._

" _Hmph, George…" Dio scoffed, his voice dismissive as he let his adoptive father's corpse fall to the ground with a simple flick of the arm. The monster merely looked at the old man's corpse before he suddenly slammed his foot down on his head, crushing George's head with a wet and sickening_ _ ***CRUNCH*. (1)**_

" _I can't help but feel that you ran your mouth far too much in your lifetime, my_ _ **dear father…"**_ _Dio mused before looking towards a devastated Jonathan with a sickly sweet smile._

" _JOJO! You're next…" Dio taunted as he slowly began to walk towards the petrified Jonathan._

" _Gh! What a brute!" Joseph heard speedwagon whisper frantically as he brought out his revolver and pointed it at Dio, who's slow advance continued._

' _ **Whoa! Even Speedwagon is afraid!'**_ _Joseph mentally noted as Jonathan broke free of his petrification and shakily brought out his own revolver._

" _D-DIO! Not another step closer or we_ _ **will**_ _fire!" Jonathan threatened. However, this didn't slow Dio's advance in the slightest._

" _A-Are you even listening to me!? DIO!" However, despite Jonathan's threats, it was all too clear to Joseph that his grandfather wasn't going to fire, he could only take a step further and further back the closer Dio got to both him and Speedwagon._

 _ ***BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG***_

 _However, just as Dio raised his blood-stained arm to strike down his former brother, a series of earlobe shattering explosions resonated through the air and he was flung to the ground. When Jonathan looked towards the source of the gunshots, he saw that the police officers, who the blue-haired Joestar more or less forgot about, suddenly sprung into action and rained a flurry of gunfire down upon Dio_ _ **.**_

' _ **That isn't gonna work…'**_ _Joseph mentally warned as Jonathan looked at Dio's bullet hole riddled body. True to his word, any relief Jonathan and Speedwagon might've felt when Dio got shot vanished in the blink of an eye when the monster slowly got back up into an upright position, his demeanor and the nonchalant look on his face showing that the bullets did no real damage._

' _Impossible… just what has Dio become…?' Jonathan thought as Dio began the nauseating act of ripping apart bits of his flesh with his fingers so he could remove the bullets from his body. 'No normal man can just shrug off that many bullets to the chest… No normal man can just ram his arm through somebody and hoist a body into the air with just one arm!... Is… is this power the secret that the Stone Dagger holds…?'_

 _After picking the last bullet out of his body and letting it drop to the floor with a metalic_ _ ***Clack*,**_ _Dio then cocked his head towards the petrified officers and gave them a questioning look._

" _I see that you fools seem to have a deathwish, don't you?" Dio asked rhetorically before he gave the officers a malevolent smile which showed off his fangs all too well. "Well, if you're all so eager to rush to your deaths…"_

" _SHOOT THAT MONSTER!" The police chief screamed, who had finally managed to reload his depleted revolver after frantically fumbling around with it. However, as the officers that managed to reload their guns sent another volley of bullets towards him, Dio, with inhuman speed, leaped into the air and was somehow able to stick to the ceiling of the room with his hands._

" _Then Please! ALLOW ME TO SHOW YOU ALL THE WAY!"_

 _As Dio screamed this out with manic glee, he suddenly propelled himself towards the group of officers before tackling the stunned police chief to the ground. Before anybody could do anything to help him, Dio then rammed his fingers into the jugular of the man, killing him instantly. For a moment however, Dio seemed to have been relishing in the sensation of having his fingers rammed into the police chief's throat. When Jonathan squinted his eyes and took a closer look, he noticed that that there were some large veins bulging around the blonde's fingers. From what it looked like, it appeared that he was somehow sucking the blood out of the man with his fingers. It was an insane explanation, but it was the only thing that could explain why the police chief looked more and more decrepit as each second passed by. In no time at all, the police chief's body looked as though it was a decade old, skeletal corpse despite having died less than a minute ago._

" _Hmhmhm…" Satisfied by the blood of his newest victim, Dio stood upright and removed his fingers from the man's neck before looking around him. The officers, who up until now had watched the unfolding events with horror, had now finally realized that it would be best to run while they still had the chance. Unfortunately, Dio had no intention of letting anybody leave the Joestar mansion alive._

" _YOU PATHETIC WEAKLINGS!" Dio screamed out at he leaped towards the closest retreating officer with superhuman strength. In one fluid motion, the monster was able to grab onto the unfortunate man's neck with enough force to rupture it, causing more blood to flow down his hand. As soon as he did this, Dio then threw the corpse of the man towards his retreating colleagues, the force behind the throw being enough to dismember each of the hapless men and women._

" _Ha… such amazing power…" Dio breathed out, feeling refreshed and invigorated. "...and to think I haven't even explored the full extent of my abilities either…" Once the blonde said this, he turned toward both Jonathan and Speedwagon, who had both been watching Dio slaughter the officers in terrified awe._

" _JOJO! You have the honor of being my test subject! I'll toy with you for a bit to see where the limits of my abilities lie. You should be honored." Dio declared, beginning his advance towards Jonathan once more._

" _Dio…" Jonathan managed before he clenched his fists tightly and glared at the monster his brother had become. "I have spent the last seven years of my life trying to decipher the secrets of the Stone Dagger. If I had never spent so much time trying to understand how it worked, then you might've never ended up like this. I am partly responsible for the monster you have now become!" As Jonathan said this, he sprinted towards one of the nearby suits of armor that had been set up as a decoration for the manor and snatched the spear it had been holding out of it's hands before pointing it at Dio, a determined glare on the noble's face._

" _I now know what must be done! DIO! I won't allow you to leave this manor alive! I can't let another person get killed because of you!" This statement only caused a malicious smirk to creep onto Dio's face._

" _Hehehe… Well, if you honestly think that you can kill me brother…" Suddenly, Dio leaped towards Jonathan with his left arm poised to strike. "THEN PLEASE! TRY WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT!"_

" _ **RAAAARGH!"**_ _Jonathan screamed out as he thrusted the spear forward, hoping to strike Dio in his brain. However, the blonde countered this by letting the spear pierce his left palm. By doing this, the spear became stuck in Dio's hand the moment the wound regenerated._

' _Damn it all! The spear's stuck!' Jonathan thought as he tried to pull the spear out of Dio's hand. However, all these efforts did was amuse the blonde greatly._

" _What's the matter, JoJo~? I thought you weren't going to let me leave this place alive?" Dio asked coyly, a sadistic glee all too clear in his voice. Suddenly, tapping into his newfound strength, he easily twisted apart the spear before using the blade to stab a stunned Jonathan in the shoulder._

' _D-Damn it!' Jonathan thought as he fell to the floor clutching onto his wounded shoulder. 'There's no way I can defeat Dio like this! He's too powerful! I have to retreat for now and find another way to stop him!' With this new objective in mind, Jonathan quietly got to his feet, making sure not to alert Dio, who was fortunately too caught up in his gloating to notice his enemy's recovery._

" _Speedwagon, quickly! Come with me!" Jonathan whispered urgently to Speedwagon, who up until being addressed was huddled back against the wall. Shaking off any fear he felt, the scarred man quickly made his way over to Jonathan and helped him over to his destination, which was behind a long red curtain._

" _Oh god! Mr. Joestar, what're we going to do!? This has all just turned into a waking nightmare in the blink of an eye!" Speedwagon whispered frantically to Jonathan, pushing his back into the wall as much as he could. It would only be a matter of time until Dio either sniffed them out or saw the trail of blood Jonathan left thanks to his shoulder wound._

" _I know Speedwagon, I know! Just stay quiet, will you!? I need to focus!" Jonathan snapped, tightly clenching onto his shoulder wound as it continued to bleed. The stress of the situation was clearly beginning to affect the noble and Speedwagon's panic wasn't helping him think clearly either._

" _Didn't I tell you? Human schemes have their limits…" Came Dio's cold and smooth voice, his footsteps beginning to grow louder and louder ever so faintly._

' _He knows where we are!' Jonathan thought as Dio's footsteps kept increasing in volume. 'If I don't think of something right now, both Speedwagon and myself are done for!' As Jonathan continued to rack his brain for any plan that could save his life and Speedwagon, he just remembered the_ _ **「**_ _ **emergency tool**_ _ **」**_ _that he kept in his shirt pocket. As soon as he remembered, the blue-haired Joestar frantically dug into his coat pocket, trying to fish the object out before looking to Speedwagon._

" _Speedwagon! I have an idea, but I need something from you to pull it off! Do you have any flammable liquids on you, by any chance?"_

 _Normally, Speedwagon would question why Jonathan would ask such a strange thing of him, but considering the dire circumstances they were in, the former thug boss didn't bother and quickly gave the noble the first thing that came to mind when he thought of "flammable."_

" _Here," The scarred man whispered, handing Jonathan a silver flask full of cheap alcohol. "I never leave home without it."_

" _Perfect! This was just what I needed!" As Jonathan said this, he finally managed to fish item he needed out of his coat pocket, revealing it to be a triangular, dark red dust crystal. Speedwagon didn't even have time to voice his confusion with Jonathan's plan before he snatched the flask right out of his hand and began to pour it's contents onto the crystal._

" _A dust crystal? Mr. Joestar, what're you planning to do!?" Speedwagon asked as Jonathan held the crystal tightly, preparing himself for when Dio pulled back the curtains._

" _Speedwagon…" Jonathan whispered, not looking away from the source of the approaching footsteps. "Once I use this crystal, I want you to make a beeline towards the manor's exit, do you understand?" The urgency in the noble's voice implied that he wasn't going to budge on this matter, but that didn't mean Speedwagon wasn't going to try. But before he could even say anything, he was interrupted._

" _Come now, JoJo. Cease this useless cowering of yours and come out! Accept what fate has in store for you!" Came Dio's voice, his voice indicating he was standing right in front of the curtains. With one swift motion, the newly transformed vampire ripped the curtains out from their positions, revealing a terrified Speedwagon and a stone-faced Jonathan._

" _This isn't cowering Dio, IT'S COURAGE!" And in a sudden motion that surprised Dio, Jonathan suddenly rugby tackled him to the ground and slammed what he realized was a volatile dust crystal into his face._

" _NOW SPEEDWAGON! RUN!" Jonathan yelled out, kneeing Dio in the gut so he couldn't retaliate and sprinted away from the shining dust crystal. Just as he did so, the crystal suddenly blew up in an inferno of fire which was only further spread about the room thanks to the alcohol that the blue-haired Joestar poured on it._

" _ **RAAAAAARGH!"**_

 _And caught in the center of the explosion was one unfortunate Dio. The clothes he was wearing did little to protect his flesh from the burning scorch of the fire, causing it to slowly burn off him. However, thanks to the enhanced regenerative abilities bestowed upon him by the stone dagger, the blonde's flesh began to grow back far more quickly than the fire could burn it off._

" _Good god… his flesh is regenerating while he burns…!" Speedwagon managed, shocked and nauseated by what he was witnessing. "Is that regeneration the source of his immortality?"_

" _Kh… The fire wasn't enough…" Jonathan grimaced, realizing that he backed himself into a corner. The fire was already spreading through the rest of the manor and it also cut off the doorway that led to the rest of it as well. Not only that, but Dio seemed to have enough focus through the pain he was enduring to set his sights on Jonathan. If he didn't think of something soon, then things would not end well for the noble._

 _However, as Jonathan began to look around the room for a way to retreat, he noticed that the upper portion of the room had handguards, indicating that the upper portion of the manor was not closed off from here._

' _Of course, if I can find a way to get up there, then I'll have more space to work with… and I think I know just what I can use to do so.' Without skipping a beat, Jonathan quickly grabbed onto one of the swords that had been on display off the wall and stabbed it into the ground. As soon as he did this, the Joestar jumped onto the hilt and propelled himself upwards 15 feet into the air. By doing this, Jonathan was able to grab onto the railing and began to pull himself upward._

" _Hmm?" Dio noted, intrigued at what his enemy was doing despite the flames eating away at him._

" _W-What're you doing!? You can't go up there! The fire is spreading!" However, Speedwagon's warnings fell upon deaf ears as Jonathan, despite having the blade of a spear still lodged in his shoulder, managed to hoist himself upwards and into the upper portion of the Joestar manor. Once he did this, the noble looked towards Dio with a determined glare and began to gesture for the vampire to follow him._

" _Come on up, Dio! If you really want to kill me, then come get me!"_

" _JONATHAN! DON'T! YOU'LL BE KILLED!" Speedwagon pleaded desperately. However, before he could say anything else, a sudden plume of fire sent the Ogre Street thug flying out of the manor and presumably into it's courtyard._

" _Hmph… goading me into coming after you so your friend can get away, are we?" Dio noted before smirking once again and approaching the wall that was connected to the 2nd floor._

" _Very well! I suppose I may as well play along and rise to your childish provocation. HERE I COME JOJO!" And as Dio said this, he planted his left foot ankle-deep into the wall. Then, without any trace of hesitation, he did the same with his right foot. The blonde repeated this motion over and over again, and by doing so, he was able to_ _ **walk up the wall.**_

' _ **Huh, never seen a vampire do that before…'**_ _Joseph noted casually as he watched everything play out before him. As he watched the vision play out, the brunette couldn't help but remain relatively quiet. The reason why was because things were finally starting to pick up and he knew it was in his best interest to stay quiet and pay attention._

' _Dad…' Joseph heard Jonathan's thoughts as he turned around and ran. 'If you're watching me from heaven, then please, give me the strength to get through tonight alive… or at the very least, enough strength to stop Dio before he can hurt anybody else.'_

 _Soon enough, Jonathan's hurried sprint eventually took him to the roof of the Joestar manor, where he painstakingly pulled the spear out of his shoulder and waited for when Dio would inevitably come._

' _He's going to come for me… I don't know where he'll attack from, but he will…' Jonathan thought as he stood on the roof, tightening his hold on the spear head. The noble had spent his childhood growing up with Dio. He knew him, and he also knew that the blonde wouldn't turn this challenge down._

 _ **ゴ**_

 _ **ゴ**_

 _ **ゴ**_

 _ **ゴ**_

 _ ***Ruuumble…***_

' _H-Here he comes…!' Jonathan thought, quickly looking around his surroundings for the source of the rumbling._

 _ ***CRASH***_

" _ **WRRRrrREEEeeEE! WRRREAAAH!"**_

 _Suddenly, Dio came bursting out of the ceiling behind Jonathan and sent a powerful kick flying his way. With barely enough time to react, the blue-haired noble turned around and brought the head of the spear up just in time to block what would've been a lethal blow to his head. However, Dio was far from finished and followed up by merely putting more force into his kick. By doing this, the blonde monster was able to send Jonathan sprawling onto the roof's concrete tiles._

" _HOW UTTERLY PATHETIC! You should never leave yourself open Jona-"_

 _ ***CRASH***_

 _Dio didn't have enough time to finish that taunt before Jonathan suddenly rugby tackled him out of nowhere and sent the both of them crashing through the entryway to the stairwell, sending them both falling down into the burning depths of the Joestar manor._

" _DAMN YOU! LET ME FINISH MY SENTENCES!" Dio cried out in shock and anger, not expecting Jonathan to get his second wind so quickly._

" _I'M SICK OF HEARING YOU TALK DIO! ALL THAT MATTERS TO ME NOW IS MAKING SURE YOU BURN HERE!" I'M WILLING TO DO THIS EVEN AT THE COST OF MY OWN LIFE!" Jonathan retorted, sick of hearing Dio constantly run his mouth. However, when the shock of what just transpired wore down, the blonde could only sneer in response._

" _Well I hate to disappoint, BUT YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE WHO'S GOING TO BURN, FOOL!" And with that said, Dio quickly kneed Jonathan in the gut, dislodging his grip from him and sending him screaming into the flames below, before ramming his fist into the stone wall mid fall._

" _GOOODBYEE, JOJO!"_

 _It might've just been the adrenaline coursing through Jonathan's body that did this, but he and Joseph both could've sworn Dio sounded oddly…_ _ **「**_ _ **squeaky**_ _ **」**_ _when he said this._

" _NO! NOT LIKE THIS!" Jonathan yelled out in anger, ramming the spear head, which was conveniently enough falling right beside him, into the wall like Dio to stop his descent. Once falling into a fiery abyss was no longer his prime concern, the muscular noble flipped onto the lodged spear head and used his momentum to bounce off it, his intention being to bounce back up to Dio and send him back down into the fire bellow. However, as Jonathan tried to grab onto the unaware blonde's legs, he found that he was already starting to fall back down._

' _Guess I'll need to extend my reach a bit!' However, Jonathan was able to take this all in stride and thought up a solution already. With deft hands, the blue-haired Joestar was able to quickly unfasten his belt and used it by swinging it towards Dio's legs._

" _W-What the-!?"_

 _Miraculously enough, the belt was actually able to firmly wrap itself around Dio in one swift motion, giving Jonathan the opportunity he'd been waiting for this whole time._

" _DIO! I'M BACK!" With a mighty tug, Jonathan pulled on the belt with all his might, his weight and strength being enough to dislodge Dio from the wall and send him falling down once again. Following up on this, the blue-haired Joestar grabbed onto Dio mid fall and began to punch him in the face repeatedly._

 _ ***BAM***_

" _THIS IS FOR MY FATHER!"_

 _ ***BAM***_

" _THIS IS FOR ALL THOSE MEN AND WOMEN YOU KILLED DOWN BELLOW!"_

 _ ***SLAM***_

" _AND THIS IS BECAUSE-"_

 _ ***PUNCH***_

" _-I'M SICK OF LOOKING AT YOUR-"_

 _ ***POW***_

" _-SMUG-"_

 _ ***BAM***_

" _-SADISTIC-"_

 _ ***CRUNCH***_

" _-UGLY FACE!"_

" _You insolent bastard…" Dio growled, a cold fury clear in his voice. "LET GO OF ME!" Suddenly, the blonde grabbed onto both of Jonathan's arms and squeezed as hard as he could. Thanks to his superhuman strength, Dio was able to crush his brother's arms like they were paper mache. But despite this, Jonathan was still able to keep his arms wrapped tight around Dio's body, only grinding his teeth as he felt the bones in his arms snap._

" _W-What!? Just what in the hell are you!?" Dio stammered out, shocked that Jonathan still had the strength to hold onto him despite the bones in his arms being grinded to dust. In response, Jonathan only had this to say._

" _RAAAARGH! FATHER! LEND ME YOUR STRENGTH!" And as he screamed this out, the blue-haired noble suddenly pushed both of his feet into the wall, changing the trajectory of their fall, which as luck would have it, was right into the lobby of the burning manor. The reason why this was such a fortunate turn of events for Jonathan was because this also meant that they were heading straight for the statue in the middle of the lobby, depicting the Joestar family's guardian angel._

 _ ***SPLAT***_

 _It should also be worth noting that this statue featured a spear-like pointed top, which impaled Dio in the gut._

 _ **HIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEE!"**_

 _Dio screamed out in what Joseph thought might just be the most shrill voice he ever heard in his life. After impaling the blonde on the statue, another plume of fire consumed Dio and sent Jonathan flying out the front of the manor, where his injuries and exhaustion finally began to catch up to him._

" _H-He's alive… Oh thank god!" Jonathan heard Speedwagon's relieved voice, who appeared to have stayed in the courtyard during his fight with Dio. The noble didn't make any attempt to respond to his friend, too exhausted to speak and already beginning to slip into unconsciousness._

' _It's… over… Father I won… Dio is finally dead…'_

 ***BEEP***

 ***BEEP***

 ***BEEP***

 ***BEEP***

When Joseph's alarm clock brought him back to the land of the living, only one thing went across his mind as he sat up and stretched his arms.

' _MY GRANDPA WAS A FUCKING BADASS!'_

At this point, it really didn't matter to Joseph whether or not the Jonathan Joestar he kept dreaming of was actually his real grandfather, the stunts he pulled in his battle against a vampiric Dio with no Hamon cemented the brunette's admiration for the man.

"Makes me wonder where things are gonna go from here…" Joseph pondered aloud as he got out of his bed and began his breathing exercises.

* * *

(Later, at the dining hall)

"Okay JoJo, I think it's about time you address the Goliath in the city." Yang declared suddenly, bringing everybody's focus to Joseph, who had been enjoying some fried chicken he picked out for lunch.

"The who in the what now?" Joseph asked after a moment's confusion. "It's a metaphor." Blake interjected suddenly, not looking up from her notebook as she said this. In response to this, the look of confusion on the Joestar's face only grew rather than fade away.

"A metaphor? What kind of shitty metaphor was that?" Joseph stated bluntly, unable to understand the point of this conversation.

"SHITTY!? Hey! For your information smartass, I happen to be… oh what the hell am I saying? forget it." Yang flared up before taking a deep breath and calming down.

"Hmm-hm." Joseph hummed disinterestedly, taking another bite out of his delicious fried bird.

"Okay, so what I'm trying to say here is that I think it's about time you address something that's been on all of our minds for a while now." Yang summarized efficiently, getting back to the topic at hand.

"Well by all means, go right ahead and ask, I'm an open book." Joseph responded as he opened up his bottle of Pumpkin Pete's sugar blast and began to gulp the sugary beverage down. It certainly wasn't an ice cold glass of Coca-cola, but honestly, the drink was starting to grow on the brunette.

"Alright, so just gonna throw it out there and ask: What the hell is that electricity you keep using all the time?" Yang asked bluntly, causing Joseph to nearly choke on his drink.

"Oh. _OH!_ THAT! You wanna know about that…!" Joseph choked when he managed to avoid choking. "Okay… why?"

"Well… because we've known you for almost a month and you STILL haven't told us anything about it." Ruby interjected, her interested piqued when Yang finally asked the question that had been on her mind for a while now. Out of all the people who knew Joseph ever since he came to Remnant, the caped girl had to have been the most interested in understanding just how the brunette's powers worked. This was understandable, considering Ruby had seen most of the stunts the Joestar pulled off with his power first hand, and the fact that Joseph outright told her that the electricity _wasn't_ a semblance only increased her curiosity. In response to this explanation, Joseph took a moment to rub his chin thoughtfully before responding.

"Alright… I guess there's no reason why I _shouldn't,_ after all." This response elicited an excited cheer from Ruby and an interested smile from Yang. Everyone else at the table was either looking on with interest as well or was too absorbed in something else to care.

"Alright! So, if I'm gonna explain this all to you, then I'm gonna need a glass of water, understand?" Joseph stated, crossing his arms as he did so.

"A glass of water? Why?" Yang asked, confused, which only garnered an annoyed groan from Joseph.

"Look, it's a simple request and I need it for my explanation! Now could somebody _please-_ "

"Here you go!" Ruby said suddenly, holding out a glass of water for Joseph to take. If one looked behind the girl, then one would be able to see a trail of rose petals that led out of the dining hall.

"...thank you very much, Ruby." Joseph finished offhandedly, taking the glass of water from the girl and placing it on the table for everyone to see.

"NOW! Watch closely, my audience!" Joseph declared as he raised both of his hands. "As you can likely see, nothing up my sleeve. ("You don't have any sleeves." Came Weiss's annoyed voice mid-explanation.) Now watch, as I defy reality itself AND HOLD WATER WITHIN MY HANDS!" And with that melodramatic statement, the brunette began to channel the perfect amount of Hamon into the tip of his index finger and dipped it into the glass. As soon as his finger made contact with the substance, the hamon began to encase the water, allowing Joseph to pull his finger and the contents of the glass out in one elegant motion. To everybody's amazement, the water just stuck to Joseph's index finger while maintaining the shape it held within the glass. Seeing that the Joestar had everybody's attention, a goofy smile made it's way to his face before he began to flaunt his hamon prowess about, namely by putting his mouth around the stabilized water and taking a few gulps out of it.

"HM! That is some _refreshing_ water!" Joseph sighed happily as he finished drinking the water, coyly ignoring the astounded looks Team RWBY and Team JNPR were giving him.

"SO! To put things into perspective, let me just start off by saying that everything you've all seen me do while fighting is thanks to me utilizing the _**「**_ _ **Hamon!**_ _ **」**_ Also known by some as the _**「**_ _ **Ripple!...**_ _ **」**_ or _**「**_ _ **Sendo...**_ _ **」**_ or the _**「**_ _ **Wave ener-**_ _ **」**_ okay, y'know what? Fuck it, just call it whatever the hell you want." Joseph finished, cutting his name explanation short when he remembered that the Hamon had a surprisingly abundant amount of names it and an annoyingly large amount of people who constantly argued about the proper name for it. It was pretty surprising when you think about how only a few people on Earth knew about the breathing technique.

"In any case, the Hamon works like this," Joseph continued when he realized he was getting off topic. "It's essentially a special breathing technique that lets me channel solar energy through my body, empowering me and allowing me to manipulate practically anything with varying effects. My clackers are coated with a special oil that's incredibly hamon conductive, which is part of why they make such good weapons."

After finishing his explanation, everybody looked at Joseph with varying expressions. Some looked with interest, others, like Ruby, looked with confusion, and others, like Blake and Pyrrha, looked with curiosity, not all of their questions being answered.

"Interesting! Where exactly did you learn how to do all this, JoJo?" Pyrrha asked Joseph. A technique such as this sounded rather complicated, and it seemed unlikely that the Joestar was self-taught in the breathing technique.

"I didn't, well, not initially at least. From what my grandma and uncle told me, my grandpa, Jonathan Joestar, had to learn and master Hamon, although I never really bothered to ask why at the time. So apparently, it runs in the family, because I could do it ever since I was a kid. Any other questions?" Upon saying this, Ruby tentatively raised her hand. Upon gesturing for her to speak up, she began.

"So… uh… I kinda lost track of everything when you said that it had something to do with the sun. How exactly does breathing give you solar energy…?" Ruby asked, focusing a little too much about how Hamon would realistically work.

"Okay, I'll put it in layman's terms for anyone who's confused: By breathing correctly, I can punch shit with the power of the sun, transfer that power into other objects, and stay young. The electricity you've all been seeing on me is the end resul-"

"Waitwaitwaitwaitwait! Back it up a little bit! What did just say?" Yang suddenly interjected, looking at Joseph expectantly.

"...I can punch shit with the power of the sun?"

"No! The other thing!"

"...I can transfer Hamon into other objects?"

"NO! The _OTHER_ other thing!"

"... _ **「**_ _ **The Wave Energ-**_ _ **」**_ "

"THE LAST THING YOU SAID!" Yang suddenly exclaimed, her hair flaring up and her eyes turning red.

,

,

,

"...Y'know, you should really consider seeing a therapist about all your anger issues, Yang." Joseph said after a moment's silence.

"...Do you want to know how hard my fist can connect with your face?" Yang replied in a deadpan tone of voice.

"Okay then! Case in point aside, one of the biggest benefits of regularly training in Hamon is that it slows down how quickly you age." Joseph summed up, causing Yang's eyes to light up with intrigue. "No kidding?" Joseph nodded in response before continuing with his explanation.

"Yeah, no shit! My old Hamon coach, Lisa Lisa, was around fifty or so and she looked like she was in her late twenties. Although if you ask me, she constantly wore these sunglasses all the time, so I bet that she was hiding her wrinkles with them." Joseph explained, briefly reflecting on everything he learned from his Hamon coach.

"...Just how tactless are you?" Weiss asked with sarcasm in her voice as she listened to Joseph's explanation. During times like these, the white-haired girl really had to wonder if the brunette had any form of social skills when came to interacting with people.

"...Lisa Lisa?" Blake repeated, noticing something strange.

"Huh… that really is something else." Yang noted before an idea popped into her head. "Say… JoJo, humor me here for a minute, would ya?" Yang began, drawing Joseph away from his beloved fried chicken once again.

"Alright, but can you speed it up? My lunch is getting cold." Joseph stated, causing Yang to hold up her hands as a sign of reassurance.

"It'll only take a second big guy. So, uh… how good would you say you are at teaching?" The blonde asked, causing Joseph to raise an eyebrow.

"Well… I wouldn't really say I've had the best experiences with teachers." The Joestar responded, thinking back to all the bullshit he got from his teachers back in New York and England when he actually bothered to show up to class. And of course, Joseph couldn't forget Lisa Lisa's… extreme training methods without inwardly cringing.

"I see… well either way, I wanted to know if you'd consider teaching me the basics of Hamon." Yang requested, getting to the point of her questions.

"So that's what you were getting at then, huh?" Joseph said before rubbing the back of his head. "Well, I hate to disappoint Yang, but even if I knew how to teach somebody, there's still no guarantee you'd even be able to use Hamon. I've been told that only ten in ten thousand are actually capable of using Hamon, so you're chances are kinda slim to none." Joseph stated bluntly, not willing to sugar-coat words.

"Aw c'mon!" Yang persisted, putting a friendly arm around Joseph. "There's no harm in trying, is there? Think about it like this! If I can't do it, then no harm done. But if I can, you'd be teaching a new generation! Doesn't that sound awesome!?" After a moment of silence on Joseph's part, he let out an annoyed sigh before responding.

"Okay, I'll tell you what. When you have some free time, come find me and I'll show you the basics of how to use Hamon. If you show some potential, then I'll show you the ropes, like how to properly breath and use it, but no more than that! I don't want to spend god knows how much of my free time playing teacher, got it?" In response, a victorious smile made it's way onto Yang's face before she spoke up.

"Crystal clear! Thanks a bunch handsome~!"

"Alright, now if there are no more questions, can I get back to my meal?"

* * *

" _I really must admit Jonathan, it's wonderful to finally talk to you again~." Erina admitted happily as she walked down the snowy road with Jonathan._

" _I agree, it's been so long since we've last seen each other, close to a decade if I'm correct…" Jonathan pondered, causing Erina to look downward in shame._

" _...I know this Jonathan, and I'm truly sorry for staying away from you for so long… it's just that after what Dio did, I felt too ashamed to even be near you…" Erina explained solemly, shame at her cowardice clear in her voice. However, she was drawn out of her self-loathing when Jonathan put a hand on her shoulder. When she looked up, she saw the blue-haired noble give her a smile that made her heart melt._

" _Erina, please, what happened in the past doesn't matter now. What's important is that you're here now, and that truly makes me happy after everything that's happened recently." Jonathan stated honestly, causing Erina's cheeks to burn a bright red._

" _J-Jonathan…" The blonde young lady uttered, her head slowly moving closer to Jonathan's._

" _Erina…" The bluenette responded, his head moving closer as well._

" _Jonathan…"_

" _Erina…"_

" _ **MOTHER OF GOD! GET A FUCKING ROOM YOU TWO!"**_ _Screamed Joseph, disgust clear in his voice as he was forced to watch the closest thing he had to a mother in his life get all lovey dovey with his grandfather._

" _ **...If this keeps up any longer, I think my scalp is going to tunnel into my skull in embarrassment."**_ _Joseph thought grimly as Jonathan and Erina moved in closer and closer, apparently intending to seal the deal. Fortunately, however, before that could happen, a voice suddenly spoke up, drawing the couple's attention away from each other, much to the relief of the muscular brunette._

" _Let's see, blue hair, built like a horse carriage, and a calming air to him. Am I correct in assuming that you're Jonathan Joestar?" A relaxed voice spoke up from behind Jonathan and Erina. Looking behind them both, the two of them saw a rather strange sight. Sitting on the snowy stone wall that went along the path they were on was a strange looking man in a white suite and checkered top hat. The man appeared to be in his mid-thirties and had a healthy light-brown tan to him, something that was hard to acquire in such a snowy continent like_ _ **「**_ _ **Mantle.**_ _ **」**_ _This was all topped off by the small white mustache just beneath the man's nose. The entire ensemble looked rather strange, but also looked oddly good on this man as well._

" _Uhm… yes, that would be correct. Do you have any business with me, sir?" Jonathan responded, unsure what to make of this strange man. The white-clad gentleman could only let out of few muted chuckles at Jonathan's words before he spoke up once again._

" _Every bit the gentleman I've been told you are as well! How wonderful." The man noted before flicking his hat upward slightly, giving Jonathan and Erina a good look at his face. "Now, allow me to introduce myself, my name is William Anthonio Zeppeli, and I've got some very important things to discuss with you, Jonathan."_

 _However, just as Joseph felt Jonathan move his lips to respond, a sharp ringing noise pierced his ears, drawing him away from the dream before anything else could happen._

* * *

"...Okay, so I guess the Zeppelis are in this world too." Joseph stated as he stared up into the ceiling of his room. At this point, the Joestar was more or less desensitized to the various things he saw within this dreams and just decided to take it all in stride.

"Now, what woke me up?" Joseph asked himself as he looked towards his alarm clock. It was the weekend and the device currently stated that it was 10:17 PM, indicating that the alarm wasn't what woke him up. However, when the ringing noise filled the room once again, he saw that it was coming from his scroll, the yellow button in the center glowing slightly. After some slight difficulty, the brunette managed to open up the tablet and looked at it's transparent screen. Apparently, that Coco chick from last week left a message for him, if the flashing near her picture was any indication.

"? What the hell does she want with me?" Joseph asked himself as he touched her picture and let her voice play.

" _Hey Joestar, it's me. Velvet and I are on our way to one of the airships that'll take us to the Vale shopping district, you still coming? If you are, try not to keep us waiting, will ya?'_ With that, the message reached it's end and Joseph closed it before rushing into his closet.

"God dammit! I overslept! This is the freaking worst!" Joseph swore as he tried to pick out what he should wear for the day. "Stupid fucking ominous dreams!"

* * *

"So what exactly took you so long again, Joestar?" Coco asked as she, Velvet, and Joseph walked through the lively streets of Vale. In response, the Joestar could only let out an irritated sigh before he responded.

"This again? Look, I already told you that I overslept! Now can we just drop it already and hurry it up? I'm freezing up out here!" Joseph explained as he rubbed both his arms in an attempt to warm up. He was in such a rush to get dressed this morning that he forgot to get his scarf on, leaving him in a loose fitting crop top, light brown cargo pants, and boots, leaving the crook of the Joestar's neck exposed to the elements.

"Don't worry JoJo, if I'm remembering this correctly, then the store should be right around the corner, right Coco?" Velvet reassured, looking to Coco for confirmation that she was correct.

"Yup. In fact, there it is actually." Coco confirmed, pointing at a building when they turned the corner, bringing them to the shopping district's central plaza. Situated between two buildings was a clothing store titled _**"Lucky Land Clothing and accessories store"**_. The building had two large windows on the side of the entrance displaying various different outfits of varying colors.

""Oh thank god! In door heating!" Joseph exclaimed happily as he sprinted towards the clothing store, leaving Velvet and Coco in the dust, both figuratively and literally.

"...Well, I can see he's a man of simple pleasures." Coco noted as she dusted off her sunglasses, starting to follow after him.

"Wonder if he'll like anything inside." Velvet pondered as she caught up with Coco.

* * *

"hooooooly shit…" Joseph drawled out in amazement when Velvet and Coco caught up to him, indicating he did indeed find something he liked. Suddenly, in a familiar spectacle to Ruby when she first arrived at Beacon, the Joestar suddenly shrunk down five times and began to float around in glee, much to the two girl's confusion.

"Oh my god! Look at the designs on that scarf! Hehehe! Oh man! That hoody has a wool inside! HOLY SHIT! Airplane pilot goggles!" Joseph rattled off with glee, floating off to admire all the wonderful clothes he was looking at, or at least he would've if Coco hadn't grabbed onto the collar of his crop top.

"Okay, okay. Ease off will ya? Keep that up and you'll get us thrown out." Coco lectured as Joseph suddenly returned to normal.

"Uh… yeah, sorry about that…" Joseph managed as he scratched the back of his head, more than a little embarrassed at losing his composure like that. "I'll make sure to be more composed from here on out… but uh… I'm just gonna go over there and… uh... bye!" Suddenly, Joseph sprinted off to go pick out some new clothes to get, leaving only a Joestar sized dust cloud in his wake. **(3)**

"Great. So much for you getting to spend some quality time with him." Coco sighed as she waved away the dust cloud, not noticing that scandalized look on Velvet's face, or the bright red hue it had taken up.

"W-WHAT!? Are you telling me that's the only reason you brought him along, Coco!?" Velvet stammered, which only got a raised brow out of Coco. "What? The way I see it, you get to spend some alone time with him, and I get to pick out some new clothes. Seemed like a win-win to me." The beret clad girl stated simply, which only made her faunus friend even more flustered.

* * *

 _ **(Meanwhile)**_

"No… No… Ye-No…" After Joseph left the company of Velvet and Coco, the first thing he did was start looking around for a new outfit to assemble. However, it appeared that this task was going to be harder than it initially seemed, as the Joestar was having trouble just picking out the accessory for his new outfit. Normally, this process took less time, but with so many different clothes to pick out and all of them being so varied, Joseph decided he needed to pick out his clothes very carefully.

' _Man… at the rate this is going, I'm gonna be here for awhile before I got something picked out… Maybe I should tell Coco and Velvet to leave without me later?'_ Joseph pondered, wondering just how long this escapade would really take.

"You seem to be having some trouble picking something out. May I offer some help?"

Suddenly, Joseph was brought out of his thoughts by a voice that spoke up from behind him. Looking towards the source of the voice, the brunette found himself looking at a strange looking man clad in purple and green. The biggest thing to note about the man's odd appearance had to have been his strange hair. Surrounding his entire head like some sort of a headband was an odd, green, jagged… thing wrapped around his head. Honestly, Joseph wasn't sure if that thing was a part of his head or just some sort of strange accessory.

"Sir? Are you alright?" The man spoke up suddenly, noticing Joseph's sudden lack of response.

"Oh! Uh, yeah, I'm good man. I was just having some trouble picking something out, there's just so many options." Joseph responded quickly, hoping that the guy hadn't noticed him staring at his head. The man only looked at Joseph, seemingly trying to decipher what kind of person he was with nothing but his eyes, before smiling slightly and speaking up once more.

"I see. Tell me, what is your name?" The man asked suddenly, throwing Joseph off guard.

"Uh… Joseph Joestar. Why do you need to know my name, exactly?" Joseph asked skeptically, looking at the man suspiciously. In response, the man only chuckled slightly before he put his right arm in front of his head and got into a pose that was similar to the ones the Joestar pulled off many times, surprising him greatly.

"Forgive me Mr. Joestar, how rude of me. I just tend to ask that of people who I feel I'm on a similar wave-length with. You see, my name is _**「**_ _ **Kishibe Rohan,**_ _ **」**_ and I'm the owner of the Lucky Land clothing franchise." The man, dubbed Rohan, introduced, his statement causing Joseph to look at him with a raised brow.

"Oh, you mean you're this place's manager?" Joseph asked, causing the small smile on Rohan's face to grow.

"Well if by store you mean the entire clothing franchise that extends to every continent on Remnant, then yes." Rohan stated simply, causing Joseph to do a double take.

"Woah, woah, woah! Are you telling me that you're some sort of corporate C.E.O. that owns this whole thing!?"

"Not just own, I'm also the one who's largely responsible for all the clothes designs that you see here. I don't like selling clothes that I don't feel are up to my standards." Rohan included, a straight look on his face.

"DAMN! That's a pretty impressive track record you got going there pal! So tell me then, if what you're saying is true, then what's a big-wig like yourself doing all the way out here?" Joseph asked, finding it odd that somebody as allegedly important as Rohan would be out managing one of his stores.

"Well, I decided to visit Vale to take in it's culture and meet it's many inhabitants. I find that making a new design for my clothes is much easier when I have first-hand experiences to draw from. Which brings me to why I'm talking to you." Rohan explained, taking this chance to get back to the matter at hand.

"If it's fine with you, I would like to take you to my office so I could perhaps design a custom-made outfit for you." The clothes designer stated bluntly, shocking Joseph greatly as well.

"WH-WHAT!? I-I mean, I'm flattered and all pal, but why me!? Where the hell did this come from!?"

"It's like I told you, Mr. Joestar. I feel as though we're on similar wave-lengths. This may sound strange, but I can usually tell just by looking if I'm on a similar wave-length with somebody. Whenever I do, I want to design an outfit accustomed to their personal taste. I feel that it helps me grow as a clothes designer." The fashion designer explained smoothly, giving Joseph the impression that he truly believed what he was saying. "But in any case, my offer still stands. Would you be interested?"

"Well shit~! How can I refuse? A famous clothes designer is offering to make me a custom outfit! I'd have to be brain-dead to say no to that!"

"Excellent!" Rohan declared before he turned around and began walking towards the employees only part of the store. "Now if you could just follow me, we can continue this in my office. That way, I can start working on a base for your clothes."

"Alrighty then! Lead the way." Joseph said as he began to follow after Rohan, none the wiser of the imminent danger that he was heading into or the slightly sinister smile that showed up on the fashion designer's face.

' _Hmhmhm… now it's time to see if we're truly on 'compatible wavelengths,' Mr. Joestar.'_

 _ **-To be continued**_

* * *

 **Intermission 2: Joseph Joestar's social call**

When night had finally befallen Beacon Academy, only two of Team RWBY's members were in their dorm room. Both Blake and Weiss had gone to the library to research some things that had caught their attention, leaving Ruby and Yang to go about their business in their room. The brawler of the team was currently reading through a magazine that talked about the latest trends in Vale while the team leader was currently maintaining and polishing her precious Crescent Rose. The two of them would've continued to go about their business in blissful silence until somebody started banging at their door.

"Oi Oi! Hey girls! Open up! It's me, Joseph!" Joseph called out as he continued to bang on the door to team RWBY's dorm room. Upon looking through the keyhole and making sure it was indeed the muscular brunette, Yang unlocked the door for him.

"Huh, hey JoJo, you don't usually visit so late. What's up?" Yang greeted as Joseph stepped inside the dorm room and began to look all around it.

"Oh, you know how it is. I was just in the neighborhood and I wanted to see how some of my favorite people in this whole wide world were doing." Joseph explained, still looking around the room as he said this.

"Aww! That's nice of you JoJo. Well, you are technically a part of Team RWBY, so make yourself at home!" Ruby said happily, finding nothing wrong with Joseph's sudden visit out of the blue.

"Yeah, I just figured I'd check up on things around here, y'know, take in the atmosphere- AH HA!" Joseph screamed as he suddenly kicked the door to Team RWBY's closet open, quickly looking inside it. "YOU HIDING IN HERE YOU SON OF A BITCH!?"

.

.

.

"...Nice closet you got there. Very comfy looking. Organized." Joseph noted quickly before closing the closet door and acting like nothing happened.

"...Well, it's pretty much the same as any other closet in this dormitory." Yang said as she eyed Joseph, who began to wander around the room, seemingly looking for something.

"That may be true, but these bunkbeds are certainly a different story! So, how have they been WORKING OUT FOR YOU!?" Joseph yelled once again as he quickly swiped open the curtain to Weiss's bunk bed. However, aside from Myrtenaster, which the heiress had left on the bed, there was nothing of note behind the curtains.

"Pretty well! As leader of Team RWBY, I made the decision to put them there so we'd have more space to move around." Ruby claimed proudly, pretending the team vote didn't happen and more importantly, still being quite oblivious to Joseph's odd behavior.

"Oh, well, good on you." Joseph remarked as he continued to look around the room. "Also, shot in the dark here, but neither of you wouldn't have happened to have seen a _**「**_ _ **tall guy with long blonde hair and uh… let's say... shiny teeth**_ _ **」**_ in here, would you?" The Joestar asked offhandedly, causing Yang to raise an eyebrow at him and Ruby to just look at him in confusion.

"A… _**「**_ _ **tall guy with blonde hair and shiny teeth?**_ _ **」**_ " Ruby repeated, more than a little confused by such a strange question.

"Yeah, pretty much. No big deal if you haven't though. Just curious." Joseph responded as he looked underneath the bunk beds, moving a copy of Blake's _**「**_ _ **Ninjas Of Love**_ _ **」**_ out of the way to get a better look underneath.

"No… we haven't exactly seen anybody like that in our dorm room lately, because we… y'know, lock our doors like normal people." Yang explained as Joseph finished looking underneath the beds and crouched down near the corner of the room, looking into an air vent.

"Yeah, you'd think that would keep him out, wouldn't you? But you'd be wrong. That guy… he's got these steel balls that make his skin all loose. Let's him just squeeze on through these vents like a rat." Joseph explained as he looked inside the vent, with both Ruby and Yang crouching down as well to see if there actually was anything in there.

"Wait, so you're saying that there's somebody hiding in our dorm room?" Ruby realized, causing Joseph to spring up to his feet in surprise.

"WHAT!? NO! Of course not! I already told you both, this is just a social call, a passing visit, that's all! Besides, I mean why the hell would Gyro be hiding in here anyway?" The Joestar immediately denied as he continued to look around the room, unintentionally letting more information out about this mysterious intruder he was looking for, something that didn't go unnoticed by Yang.

"Alright, so let's see if I'm following this so far. You think there's a _**「**_ _ **guy with long blonde hair, steel balls, and shiny teeth**_ _ **」**_ hiding in our dorm room named Gyro. Am I following this correctly so far, or did I miss something?" Yang asked, growing exasperation clear in her voice.

"W-HELL NO! You've got it all wrong here, Ya- wait, how'd you know all that? Did you see him? He's about yea high, got long blonde hair, these green steel balls, and some grill in his teeth." Joseph quickly rattled off, describing the intruder's features to the blonde and her sister.

"I thought you said his teeth were just really shiny." Yang said, looking at Joseph questioningly. He looked as though he was about to respond, but before he could, the door suddenly began to creak open.

"So, did you find the book?"

"No, it turned out somebody else already took it o-"

" **WATAAAAH!"**

" **WHAT THE HELL!?"**

" **JOSEPH!?"**

As soon as Joseph heard the door creak open and somebody come inside, he immediately did the first thing that came to mind, which was to swipe Myrtenaster off Weiss's bed and to charge at the entrance to the dorm room screaming a mighty battle cry, all the while brandishing the rapier as though it was a spear. Thankfully, both Weiss and Blake were able to quickly dodge out of the way and retreat into the room as they did so, causing the Joestar to accidently lodge the Heiress's weapon in the wall.

"Oh! Blake! Weiss! Hey there! Fancy running into you two this lovely evening~!" Joseph said merrily as he tugged Myrtenaster out of the wall, oblivious to the baffled glare Weiss was giving him and the suspicious and surprised looks the rest of Team RWBY were giving him.

"Oh yeah! Completely unrelated, but have either of you seen a guy with green steel balls and golden grill sneaking around here?"

"W-Wh! ARE YOU SERIOUSLY JUST GOING TO PRETEND THAT YOU DIDN'T ALMOST STAB ME WITH MY OWN SWORD!?" Weiss demanded, anger and bafflement all too clear in her voice.

"Ah c'mon. You're focusing way too much on water under the bridge here. Seriously though, that guy, did you see him? He's about this tall, got long blonde hair and some steel balls?" At this point, Yang decided she was done beating around the bush.

"Joseph, what the hell is going on!?" Yang demanded, glaring straight at Joseph. The Joestar flinched under her gaze for a moment before letting out a sigh and speaking up once.

"Okay, fine, I'm gonna level with you all here, there is a dude with long blonde hair, green steel balls, and completely golden teeth named Gyro somewhere in this building." Joseph admitted, twirling Myrtenaster around with his hand.

" _Why_ do keep putting so much emphasis on his teeth?" Yang asked with exasperation.

"Seriously? That's because I didn't want any of you being alarmed if you end up seeing him. His teeth, they are just flat out disturbing. Hell, I think he might've had some words written into them in silver at one point." Pretty much every single member of Team RWBY was lost at this point. How the hell did Joseph end up meeting people like this, and what the hell was this 'Gyro' character doing in the dormitories anyway?

"Don't get me wrong here, he's a good guy," Joseph added quickly. "but uh… he kinda smokes that _**'white dust crystal,'**_ if you catch my drift. He would do _anything_ to get money for his next fix. _Anything._ " This statement caused every member of Team RWBY to look at Joseph in shock and slight terror, except for Ruby, who was completely oblivious to the fact that 'White Dust Crystal' was a slang term for crack.

"I... I see… that's… interesting…" Weiss managed, so shocked by what she was hearing that she couldn't even bring herself to yell at Joseph.

"I mean, _**anything.**_ Like ' _ **murder in your sleep'**_ anything." Joseph repeated, moving his head closer to the girls to get his point across.

"Then hurry it up _and find him!"_ Weiss gritted out, her anger and frustration beginning to come back with a vengeance.

"Oh, don't you worry! I'm gonna find him," Joseph proclaimed as he slowly began to back away from Team RWBY, still holding onto Myrtenaster. "Because first, I'm gonna look low, and then, I'm gonna look _**HIGH!"**_ As soon as he raised his voice, the strange Joestar wasted no time and immediately began thrusting the rapier into the ceiling multiple times, catching the huntresses-in-training off guard and even more so when they began to hear somebody yelling in pain as he did so. After the twelfth stab upwards, Joseph's target fell down to the floor, giving Team RWBY a clear look at him. Standing in front of them was a tall looking man with long blonde hair, a strange looking beard, a cowboy hat, as well as _**「**_ _ **a pair of green steel balls and golden grill.**_ _ **」**_

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

"...Uhh." Yang began, not sure where to even start.

" _ **NYO-HO!"**_

Suddenly, the man gave the girls a broad toothy grin, showing off a set of golden teeth that had the words _**'LOLRUS555'**_ etched onto them.

" _ **AHHHHHHHHHHH"**_

" _ **NYO-HOHOHOHOHO!"**_

After seeing this, the girls couldn't help but scream in pure terror, which only caused the strange man to laugh maniacally in the process before he quickly passed by Joseph and ran out of the dorm room.

 ***Clank***

"GYRO, YOU TOOTHY SANADABEETCH!" Joseph screamed out as he dropped Weiss's sword and gave chase, running out of the dorm room and after Gyro.

"Oh, sorry for the inconvenience by the way!" Joseph said to the girls as he popped his head back into the doorway before disappearing once again.

"GYRO WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU, I'M GONNA KNOCK THAT GRILL RIGHT OUT OF YOUR MOUTH!"

After this colorful turn of events, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang slept with one eye open for the rest of the month.

* * *

 _ **I just wanna say in advance that I love Gyro Zeppeli. He and Johnny couldn't have been better heroes for Steel Ball Run if they wanted to. Also, in case anyone wasn't aware, this intermission was inspired by the Key and Peele skit 'Shady Landlord,' it's super funny and I'd recommend everybody to take a look! (I apologize in advance to any offended Gyro fans out there.)**_

 **Originally, I was going to make George's death much more gruesome, with him turning into a zombie and Jonathan having to mercy kill him, but I decided to tone it down a bit.**

 **(3) Wanted to try my hand at a bit of RWBY humor there. Also, I apologize to anybody who's disturbed at the idea of a floating chibi Joseph Joestar**

 **Okay, so this is kinda off topic, but I just HAVE to gush right now. I just saw Joseph's ending for The Seventh Stand User…. and it was the coolest fucking thing I've ever seen in my life! I won't spoil it for anybody who wants to see it for themselves, but I will say that it was VERY unexpected and I was giddy the entire way through.**

 **P.S. TEQUILA JOSEPH JUST GOT CONFIRMED FOR EYES OF HEAVEN:D**


	12. Chapter 12

**MERRY NEW YEAR! The reason for the delay in THIS chapter begins with "Blood" and ends with "Borne." I got a PS4, and I must say, life on the cutting edge feels goood:)**

 **Disclaimer: lolrus555 owns neither JoJo's Bizarre Adventure nor RWBY. They belong to Hirohiko Araki and Rooster Teeth, respectively.**

 **Joseph Joestar: Hamon Hunter**

"Wow! You really went all out in making this place all comfy, didn't you?" Joseph noted as he followed Rohan into his office. Before the brunette came in here, he was more or less expecting a small workspace to work on some papers and do some business, or whatever it was that store managers did. What wasn't expecting, however, was a large, well designed office that seemed to double as a studio as well as a workspace. On the right of the room was an area where a mannequin, various rolls of cloth, and a painting stand was located, presumably making it the place where Rohan designed all his new outfits, and on the left was a gigantic bookshelf that took up most of the left wall. All-in-all, the office gave off an air that indicated you could get a lot of good work done in here if you knew what you were doing.

「」

"I made sure to have this office designed to my liking. After all, what's a good artist if he doesn't have a good workspace? Now, before we begin to talk about your personal preference of outfit, why don't I get us some refreshments? Just wait there, I'll be right back." Rohan said as he passed by Joseph and walked back out the door.

"Oh! Look man, it's fine! You've already done more than enough for me!" However, Joseph's reassurances fell upon deaf ears as the fashion designer already went out the doorway, leaving him alone in Rohan's office.

"Well," Joseph began as he pulled out his scroll. "Might as well try and find out how this thing even works." However, before he could even extend the device and turn it on, something on Rohan's desk caught his eye. He hadn't noticed it when he first came into his office, but right next to the telephone was a stack of white papers with something strange written on the top piece.

"Wait a second…" Joseph said as he got up from his seat, taking a better look at the papers. " _ **Pink Dark Boy?**_...Huh, I guess Rohan likes to write comic books on his free time... a little side hobby of his?" As he said this, the Joestar couldn't help but run his hand through the beautifully decorated cover to this alleged comic. Despite being in black and white, it was clear that there was a lot of hard work and effort put into this comic book. If Rohan did indeed make this comic, it was clear that he invested a lot of time into making it.

 _ **ゴ**_

 _ **ゴ**_

 _ **ゴ**_

 _ **ゴ**_

' _M...Maybe he wouldn't mind if I took a quick read through it…?'_ Joseph thought as he tucked his hand underneath the comic's cover, a cold sweat beginning to run down him. The Joestar wasn't sure why, but something about this comic was just beckoning him to look through it. He knew he shouldn't, after all, this was the property of a man who invited him into his personal workspace and had shown him nothing but hospitality, but he couldn't stop the curiosity that was running through his veins. He strongly felt at that moment that he _**needed**_ to read the contents of this comic. the fact that he was an avid comics enthusiast wasn't helping the matter either. And so, after casting off any sense of hesitation he had left, Joseph quickly swiped the cover of _**Pink Dark Boy**_ out of the way and began to read through it's contents, unaware of the figure that was hiding behind the doorframe and watching him, a sinister smile on his face as he looked through the comic.

 ***BA-DUM***

"W-What the hell is this!?" Joseph managed as he looked through the rough draft. "This feeling of exhilaration and excitement I'm getting…! I've never felt such a thrilling foreboding before in my life! Just what kind of comic is this!?" However, as Joseph's eyes were glued to the pages, he began to feel and odd peeling sensation throughout his entire body.

"Well well well. I thought that you'd be compatible with my manuscript, but not _**this much.**_ It looks like I made the right choice bringing you here after all." A voice Joseph recognized as Rohan's drawled out from behind him. The Joestar tried to look behind him to explain himself to the clothes designer, but found that he couldn't bring himself to look away from his manuscript.

"W-What!? What the hell is happening to my body!?" Joseph grunted out, the peeling sensation he felt before becoming much more prominent now.

 ***Peeeel…***

"Wh-What!?" Somehow managing to force his eyes away from the manuscript slightly, Joseph looked towards the source of that particularly loud peel, which seemed to have been on his left hand. When he did so, he saw that the skin on his hand was beginning to peel backwards. However, instead of showing the grisly sight of muscle and red flesh, the Joestar was greeted with various pages that looked to be straight from a newspaper. It was as though his flesh had been replaced with paper!

"WAAAARGH! MY HAND! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO ME!?" Joseph yelled out in shock, trying to use his right hand to put his skin back in place. However, as his right arm came into view, he saw that the same process was happening there as well, his entire right bicep peeling open and revealing more pages. In no time flat, the Joestar's entire body began to open up and revealed various pages, which was most clear to see on his face, which opened up like some sort of a book.

"Hmhmhm~. Anybody who looks at my special ability, _**「**_ _ **Heaven's Door,**_ _ **」**_ will have their hearts open up to me." Rohan explained as he flicked his wrist towards Joseph. This action in turn caused the brunette's legs to suddenly stop working, causing him to fall to the ground and rendering him immobile.

"Y-You bastard… what the hell do you want from me!?" Joseph growled as he glared at Rohan, who had now crouched down and began to examine the various pages on his body.

"Mr. Joestar, let me ask you something. Do you know what's required to create true art?" Rohan suddenly asked, stopping his examination of the pages to look at Joseph's opened-up face.

"Wh-What!? What the hell does that have to do with anything!?" Joseph demanded, beginning to grow confused.

"It's a yes or no question, Joseph, so why don't you answer me?" Rohan responded, appearing unfazed by the Joestar's confusion or bafflement. "...No, I _don't_ know. And I'm just sure you're itching to give me an answer, aren't you?" Joseph answered dryly, causing the fashion designer to smirk in response.

"You're a very savvy person aren't you? Perfect. And to give you an answer, _it's 'reality'!_ 'Reality' and the experiences of various different people, no matter who they are, is the lifeblood that makes the fruits of one's labor pulse with energy! 'Reality' and 'creativity' is what makes art truly spring to life!" Rohan explained passionately while Joseph took this time to try and move his limbs, an effort that ultimately proved to be fruitless.

"...Okay… NOW WHAT THE HELL DOES ANY OF THAT B.S. HAVE TO DO WITH ME!? AND WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN BY 'SPECIAL ABILITY'!? IS THIS THE WORK OF YOUR SEMBLANCE!?" Joseph demanded angrily, wishing more than anything that he could move and deck this psycho in the nose.

"A Semblance? Mr. Joestar, please, you wound me. _**「**_ _ **Heaven's Door**_ _ **」**_ is nothing as trivial as a Semblance, it's my _**「**_ _ **Stand.**_ _ **」**_ " Rohan explained politely, garnering a confused stare from Joseph.

"A _**「**_ _ **Stand?**_ _ **」**_ What in the hell is a _**「**_ _ **Stand!?**_ _ **」"**_ Joseph demanded, growing more and more confused by the second.

"Think of it like this." Rohan began, looking through Joseph's various pages once again, much to his chagrin. "A Stand is the manifestation of one's fighting spirit. They are essentially the counterpart to the Semblances and usually hold far more versatile abilities. Stands can also appear as various different objects rather than some cliched aura. For example, my _**「**_ _ **Heaven's door**_ _ **」**_ manifests as a drawing, as you likely noticed thanks to my manuscript. It allows me to work to my full potential, which is also where you come in…"

"Oh god… why do I get the feeling I'm not going to enjoy this?" Joseph remarked with dread, which Rohan ignored.

"You see, I wish to look through your memories and get a handle on your unadulterated personality. Everything you know and everything about you will be shown on these pages with complete and total honesty. By doing this, I should be able to design some clothes that will match your personal preference perfectly." Rohan explained, the explanation garnering an incredulous look from Joseph.

"Are you fucking kidding me!? You turned my insides into a freaking newspaper just so you could get a good grasp on my personality!? What, are interviews not enough for you!?" Joseph yelled, although this question only seemed to amuse Rohan, if his chuckling was any indication.

"As a matter of fact, no, they're not. In an interview, the interviewee can always lie or say something else entirely when under pressure. When I use _**Heaven's Door**_ , I can get complete and total honesty from whoever I want. Now then," Suddenly Rohan leaned down and looked closely towards Joseph's face, clearly intending to read the contents written on it. "let's get back to the subject at hand, shall we?"

"H-HEY! You stay the hell away from me and my pages, you freak!" However, Joseph's protests fell upon deaf ears as Rohan continued to flip through the pages on his face until he found a good point to start reading.

"Alright then, let's see here. Name: Joseph Joestar. Age: seventeen years old, nearing eighteen. Born on… September 27 1920, England? What in the world…?" Rohan muttered, a look of confusion beginning to show on his face.

' _Ohhhhh no.'_ Joseph thought with dread as Rohan continued to read through his pages, his intrigue becoming more and more apparent by the second. "For some reason, your birth date and place of birth are completely alien to me. I've never heard of such a date nor a place known as "England" before in my life. How… interesting…" Rohan muttered as he continued to look through the pages on the Joestar's face, going through them faster with each turn.

"It says here that you spent most of your childhood in a place known as "Mayfare" **(1)** before you and your grandmother Erina moved to a city known as New York, although you didn't have much time to settle in before… Wha…!?"

' _Oh crap…'_

"Soon after moving to this city, your life suddenly becomes far more blatantly interesting! Traveling around the world!? Fighting vampires and ancient, humanoid, monsters!? Constant training to harness a special breathing technique!? Simply incredible!" Rohan thought aloud, simply amazed by what he was reading.

"So, after defeating Kars the ultimate lifeform through sheer luck, you woke up no longer on that chunk of volcanic rock, but rather in a back alley in Vale? The mystery only seems to thicken with each page..." Rohan noted. "After that, the headmaster of Beacon Academy recruited you, and- WHAT!?" Rohan suddenly exclaimed, apparently having found something in Joseph's papers that shocked him once again.

"You have a _**「**_ _ **stand**_ _ **」**_ as well!? I never thought I'd end up finding another person with powers like my own…!" Rohan muttered, awe clear in his voice at this sudden turn of events.

"Wait… wait WHAT!? Okay, I have A LOT more questions now than I did before. I-I mean, just what the hell are you going on about!? And for that matter, how do you eve know about these "Stands" if I'm the first person you've met the has the same abilities as you!?" Joseph exclaimed, growing more confused by the second.

"Wait, you weren't aware your power was different from a semblance?" Rohan asked. "Actually, no, that would make sense, afterall, you _are_ from a different world, how would you be able to know that your stand is any different from a semblance?" Rohan asked rhetorically.

"Now then, let's take a closer look at what this ability is exactly." Rohan declared as he more closely examined the page, hoping to find out what exactly the powers of this stand were. "You seem to call it **「** **Hermit Purple** **」** and it takes the form of a series of purple, thorny vines that sprout out of your body. It's abilities are the power to get an image of anybody you like as long as you have some form of technological device, the ability to create maps with a variety of substances, and the ability to scan the surround area. A very perceptive set of powers."

' _Wait… so I never had a semblance in the first place? My_ _ **「**_ _ **Hermit Purple**_ _ **」**_ _was just this "Stand" thing the entire time…? That… seems needlessly confusing.'_ Joseph thought, still unable to understand why his and Rohan's power was worth being put into a different category from Semblances. However, the Joestar decided he would focus on that issue later, for he had more pressing matters to attend to currently.

"Oi! Rohan, can we get back on subject here!?" The brunette spoke up, gaining the eccentric man's attention. "I'm glad to see you're having fun and all, but can you **FIX MY GODDAMN BODY NOW!?** I don't even care about my outfit anymore, just fix my body so I can get out of here, got it!?" Joseph demanded. However the sudden chuckling that began to emanate from Rohan seemed to indicate that his goals and the clothes designer's didn't exactly coincide very well.

"Hehehe… Mr. Joestar, do you honestly think that I'm going to let out of my store now?"

"W-What!? What the hell is that supposed to mean!?" Joseph demanded, beginning to grow nervous.

"Meeting somebody like you is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me! Why, with your 'reality,' I now have so much new inspiration for my craft! The material that's been written into your life could give me enough inspiration to last me for years, possibly even more!"

"Oh my god, why the hell are you doing this to me!? You're already a goddamn famous fashion designer that's probably making tons of money every day! Isn't all that good enough for you!? Why the hell do you need my 'reality' too!?" As soon as Joseph asked this, he felt a sudden pain run through his right cheek. It took the Joestar a moment to realize that Rohan just _ **punched him across the face.**_ As soon as he realized this, the green and black-haired man suddenly grabbed both sides of his head and forced him to look at him, allowing the muscular brunette to see the burning hot fury in his eyes.

"YOU IGNORANT FOOL! DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT I, THE GREAT KISHIBE ROHAN, JUST MAKES CLOTHES FOR FAME AND MONEY!? I do this because of the satisfaction I get creating something that lives up to my own standards! Something that I know with certainty is a work of art…" As Rohan continued his rant, Joseph could've sworn he saw _**「**_ _ **a set of burning dark flames**_ _ **」**_ in his eyes. It gave the brunette the spine chilling feeling that this man would do anything to satisfy his ambitions, even if that meant having to kill.

"However, every time I create something new, it gets harder and harder to follow it up with something just as good. My own experiences alone aren't enough inspiration for me, which is why _**Heaven's Door**_ was such a godsend for my work. With it, I can draw from the experiences of other people! Use them to reignite the fires of my inspiration, which is why…" Suddenly, Rohan gripped down _**hard**_ on one of Joseph's pages.

"I'M GOING TO TAKE YOUR EXPERIENCES AS MY OWN!"

 _ **「**_ _ **HERMIT PURPLE!**_ _ **」**_

However, before Rohan could attempt to rip the page out of Joseph's face, the Joestar spawned Hermit Purple out every unopened area of his body and made the purple vines form a barrier around the fashion designer.

"Don't even think about it asshole!" Joseph yelled angrily. "If I so much as feel you _tug_ on that piece of paper, then I'm gonna wrap _**「**_ _ **Hermit Purple**_ _ **」**_ around you and surge so much Hamon into your body that you'll end up in the hospital for a goddamn month!" However, Rohan didn't seem intimidated by his fellow Stand user's threat at all. He just looked at the crackling vines with a look of intrigue and amusement on his face.

"Ah, so this is your _**「**_ _ **Hermit Purple**_ _ **」**_ in the flesh. For someone who knows so little about their powers, it's manifesting quite clearly. I wonder if it's because it's attached to your body?" Rohan noted, not even bothering to get up from his crouching position as he said this.

"H-HEY! Are you listening to a word I said asshole!? Return my body to normal or I WILL put you in the hospital!" Joseph threatened, angry that Rohan didn't seem to be taking him seriously.

"Shut up and do it then!" Rohan goaded, an impatient look on his face. This response only caused Joseph to glare at the clothes designer before he began to charge the purple vines with his Hamon.

"Alright, fine! Hope you don't mind sun poisoning! OVERDRIVE!" Joseph yelled out, Hermit Purple's vines speeding towards Rohan. However, just as they were about to make contact with the man, every single one of the purple vines swerved around him.

' _W-What!?'_ Joseph thought, panic beginning to rise through him as he tried to wrap his stand around Rohan once again, only for the end result to be the same as his previous attempt. For some reason, The Joestar found himself unable to harm his captor despite his best efforts.

"You're wondering why you can't make your stand touch me, aren't you?" Rohan asked coyly before he flipped a few pages on Joseph's face, getting to the page he desired. "It's not because you don't have the guts to do it, that's for sure. It says right here that you're a very head strong person that doesn't make empty threats. So in that case, why won't your stand's vines touch me?" Rohan asked rhetorically once again, a smug smile on his face.

"I'll tell you why," He continued, pointing at something specifically on Joseph's face. "It's because I placed a 'Safety lock' on you, just in case you tried something like this."

"'S-Safety lock!? What!?" Joseph managed to say, a cold sweat running down him. It seemed that no matter what he did, his situation would only continue to worsen.

"To put it bluntly, I wrote down that you 'Cannot do anything to the great Kishibe Rohan with the intention of harming him.' My Heaven's Door doesn't just allow me to look through the memories and personality of people, it also allows me to write in anything I desire. Since I wrote that you can't hurt me, you are now physically unable to harm me. Now then..."

 ***GRIP***

"I believe I was going to be taking this from you!"

 ***RIIIIIIIP***

Suddenly, Rohan began to rip one of the pages that was attached to Joseph's face right out of him, causing the brunette to scream in horror.

"ARRRGGGGH! COCO! VELVET! HELP MEEE!"

"HAHAHAHAHA!"

* * *

"Wha-!? Coco! Did you hear that!?" Velvet suddenly asked, perking her ears up as she heard the faint sound of somebody screaming nearby.

"Hm? You heard something, Velvet?" Coco asked, looking up from a jacket she was examining to see what had her friend so high-strung.

"I...I've been hearing some faint noises somewhere in this building for a while now. At first, I just figured it was the building settling, I wasn't sure, but now I know for a fact I just heard someone scream!" Velvet explained, an anxious look on her face as she tried to pinpoint where the screaming was coming from.

"Screaming? Okay… any idea where it's coming from…?" Coco asked, looking at Velvet skeptically.

"...Not sure," Velvet began, straining her rabbit ears as she continued to listen. "It's a bit quiet now for some reason, but I know for a fact that I heard somebody-THERE IT IS AGAIN!" Suddenly, the second-year's ears perked up and an alert expression appeared on her face.

"It came down this corridor, c'mon!" Velvet yelled as she sprinted into the employee's only area and left Coco in the dust.

"Wh-HEY! Velvet! Wait a minute!" Coco called out, chasing after her teammate when she ignored her.

' _It was muted, but I know for a fact that I heard something down this way.'_ Velvet thought as she sprinted down the restricted part of the store. _'It's odd though, I could've sworn that sounded a bit like… like…! OH NO, JOJO!'_ Upon realizing just who was in danger, the rabbit faunus quickly doubled her sprinting speed. In no time at all, she found herself nearing the source of the screams, which behind was a closed door with light shining out underneath it. Wasting no time, Velvet kicked the door open, and was greeted with the sight of… of…

"Hm? Oh hey, Velvet! What're you doing back here?"

A merry looking Joseph sitting in front of a desk and holding a tall glass of iced tea. From the looks of it, the Joestar seemed to have been in the middle of a conversation with the man sitting on the other side of the desk, who was now looking at her with a neutral expression on his face.

"I… I heard you screaming, so I came to see what happened…" Velvet explained slowly, gaining a confused stare from Joseph.

"You heard me screaming? What are you going on about? I've just been in here talking with Rohan." Joseph explained gesturing towards the man, whose name was revealed to be Rohan, on the other side of the desk. The expression on his face still didn't change, even as Coco sprinted into the room, slouching over as she tried to catch her breath.

"Velvet..." Coco gasped out as she tried to speak. "...You REALLY need to slow down…" The beret wearing brunette managed to say between gasps.

"Ah! Nice, you're here too! Perfect timing!" Joseph said merrily, causing Coco to look at him questioningly when she regained her breath. "Oh really? What did we miss? And what's the deal with that guy with the headband?" The short-haired brunette asked, causing Rohan's face to twitch slightly in annoyance.

"Headband? Are you referring to my hair, miss?" Rohan asked, irritation clear in his tone. Before Coco could respond to his remark however, Joseph quickly intervened.

"You guys aren't gonna believe who I ran into while I was looking for something to wear." Joseph explained as he put his hand on Rohan's shoulder, as if to emphasize what he was saying. "This guy right here just so happens to be the man in charge of this whole thing! Not only does he own whole store, but the entire clothing franchise too! Crazy shit, huh!?" The Joestar explained excitedly, causing Velvet to look at him with surprise and Coco with intrigue.

"Huh, wow. Stuff like that doesn't happen every day, now does it?" Coco noted, causing a cheeky look to spread across Joseph's face.

"Ya got that right! And you won't even believe the rest of what I have to say either! Not only did he invite me back here for some iced tea, but he also agreed to make me some custom-made clothes, free of charge!"

"Oh? So out of the three of us here, you're getting the special treatment, huh? Lucky bastard." Coco responded, although the amused smirk on her face made it clear that she wasn't really envious of Joseph. Velvet didn't say anything during this explanation, still looking at Rohan suspiciously.

' _Something isn't right here… I know for a fact that I heard JoJo screaming for somebody to help him. What went on in here…?'_ Velvet thought. She knew she could trust her senses, so why was the scene in front of her so contradictory with what she heard?

"I suppose it must've just been something else I heard. Maybe the building settling. Sorry for confusing you like that, Coco. Same goes to you Mr. Rohan, I didn't mean to barge into your office like this." Velvet apologized meekly, getting a slightly surprised look out of her team leader while Rohan's face remained neutral.

"Oh! uh… yeah, it's fine Velv. Don't worry about it." Coco responded.

"Don't stress yourself out Miss, no harm done." Rohan said, leaning back into his chair.

"Huh… okay then." Joseph noted before he looked to Rohan with an excited look on his face. "So anyway, you said my outfit should be ready for me next week right?"

"Indeed," Rohan said with a nod. "I've cleared through most of my deadlines, so it shouldn't take too long."

Alright. Thanks again, buddy! I really appreciate what you're doing for me here!" Joseph thanked, giving the fashion designer another friendly pat on the shoulder before he finished off his glass of iced tea in three hefty chugs. Once he slammed the glass on a coaster with renewed vigor, he passed by Velvet, Coco, and walked out the door. "I'll just wait by the entrance until you gals are finished, so you know where to find me." Both members of Team CFVY nodded in response to this before they looked over to Rohan.

"Well, see you around." Coco said as she gave Rohan a small wave. Velvet didn't say anything, her gaze lingering on the oddly dressed man for another moment before she followed after Coco.

"Well, that was… interesting. What the hell was up with that guy's head, anyway? I mean, it looked more like a headband than an actual head of hair to me." Coco asked Velvet. However, rather than respond, the rabbit faunus just looked forward with a contemplative look on her face.

"Hmm…"

* * *

"Phew, that was far too close for comfort…" Rohan muttered as leaned back into his chair. "I made sure this room was sound-proofed so that nobody would hear anything, but I suppose I should've been more careful regardless. It would be just my luck that he brought a rabbit faunus with him."

"But no matter…" Rohan said to himself as he held up the page he stole from Joseph, the newspaper-like page vaguely resembling the muscular brunette's face. "as long as the ink I placed on him doesn't rub off, he shouldn't have any memory of what went on in here. When he comes back here next week, I'll just take the rest of his pages from him. Then, the inspiration for my career and _**「**_ _ **passion**_ _ **」**_ will be limitless."

* * *

 **(Three days later.)**

"Hey JoJo! You got a minute?" Yang called out as she caught up to Joseph in the hallway.

"Hm? Yeah, sure. You need something?" Joseph asked as he turned towards Yang with a nonchalant look on his face. The blonde took a moment to examine the recent changes he added to his uniform before she responded. A few days ago, Joseph added some strange looking golden pins to the lapels of his blazer. On the right lapel were two golden, stylized J's, and on the left lapel was a golden heart and peace sign, which were located on the top and bottom, respectively. It was a rather subtle change, but Yang thought that the additions Joseph made to his uniform looked quite good on him, in all honesty.

"Well basically, I got a free period at the end of the day tomorrow, I was hoping we could meet up by then and get started on my breathing. And I don't mean you just lecturing me either! I'm saying we start our first real training session with the breathing and everything!" Over the course of the week, there had been a few occasions where Yang would come to Joseph during a free period hoping they could get started with her training. However, every single time she attempted this so far just ended with the Joestar taking her to the library so he could go into more detail about how hamon worked. While the blonde had admittedly learned quite a bit of interesting stuff about the breathing technique and how it worked, it was all too clear to her that Joseph was only doing this so he wouldn't have to actually start any physical lessons. Something that Yang was hoping to change today.

"Ah c'mon. Do we really have to get started with all that so soon? I really think I need to explain this to you a bit more before we get started with all the psychical stuff..." Joseph whined, hoping he could convince the blonde to put the physical part of her hamon training off for a bit longer.

"Are you joking? You don't even have to do anything! You literally just have to sit around and tell me what to do!" Yang argued, starting to get annoyed with how Joseph kept procrastinating.

"Well, you got me there." Joseph admitted. Although if you asked him, figuring out how to teach in general was a lot of hard work on his part too. It just wasn't as… physically taxing. "Alright, fine. Where do you wanna do this?"

"alright! Now we're talking! How 'bout we meet up on the roof of the dorms? We'll have plenty of room to work with there." Yang suggested.

"Yeah, sure, whatever floats your boat, Blondie. I'll see you then." Joseph shrugged, running a hand through his hair as he walked away.

' _Great… it's bad enough that I've been feeling so sluggish lately, but now I gotta deal with this B.S.'_ True to his word, Joseph had been feeling pretty odd for the past couple of days. He wasn't sure when this odd sense of fatigue suddenly gripped him, but ever since it did, everything felt like so much more of a chore. Simply walking to his next class left him feeling slightly winded.

 ***Yawn*** "Phew, I could go for an ice-cold coke right about now. A nice sugar rush would be exactly what I need."

* * *

"Okay, listen closely here, because I really don't feel like repeating myself." Joseph began as he sat near the edge of the roof. After his classes were over, the Joestar met up with Yang and went up to the roof to begin her training proper. Currently, the buxom blonde was standing on the center of the roof doing some mock punches as some sort of a warm-up.

"Hey, you just name what I gotta do and I'll ace it in a second, alright?" Yang said, enthusiasm clear in her voice. In response to this, Joseph looked away for a moment, a look of thought on his face as he tried to think of where to start. After a brief moment, the Joestar's eyes lit up before he began speaking.

"Alright, well, the first thing we need to do is check if you've ever felt what hamon is like. So to simplify things, I'll just ask. Have you ever felt something similar to Hamon before?" Joseph asked. However, this question only served to confuse Yang rather than clear anything up.

"...I'm… not sure I follow you." Yang admitted, not sure what else to say.

"Well, let me try and rephrase that, then." Joseph said, thinking of a way to better explain what he was trying to say.

"Okay, so it's like this," He began when he thought of a better explanation. "When I was young, I always felt this nice, warm, tingling sensation whenever I was just relaxing, or just doing something that didn't require any major psychical labor. Later on in my life, I learned that I was using Hamon that whole time without even realizing it. Have you ever felt anything like that? Some kind of nice, tingling sensation?" In response to this question, Yang racked through her brain and tried to think of any kind of scenario where she might've felt what Joseph described. However, nothing of note came to mind.

"No, can't say I ever have." Yang admitted. "Guess I wasn't born with it then, huh?"

"Yup, looks like it. But no big deal, we'll just have to start with the simple stuff." Joseph said as he stood up and began to roll his neck.

"Okay, first things first. The key factor to using hamon is proper breathing. Without it, you're shit outta luck." The brunette explained to his friend, who was listening intently. "I'm not sure how you usually breathe, but however you do it, we're gonna be changing it right here and now." Joseph explained as he adjusted Yang's shoulders, making sure the busty blonde was standing up straight and in a proper stance.

"Alright, then how should I be breathing?" Yang asked curiously, maintaining the stance she was in when Joseph stepped away from her.

"Watch closely, and you'll see what I mean." As Joseph said this, he put his palm in front of his face and a bright yellow electricity and aura began to surround him.

" **Koooohhhhh…."**

When Yang listened closely, she could hear that the brunette had begun to take a series of controlled and steady deep breaths. After a moment, Joseph stopped breathing and let the electricity run through him for another moment before he spoke to Yang.

"See what I mean? Your breathing needs to be steady, deep, and above all else, controlled."

"Is that all? That sounds way too easy!" Yang boasted, confident that she could pull off what Joseph demonstrated.

"Yeah, you'd think so wouldn't you?" Joseph remarked dryly, the blonde's brash and confident words offending him due to all the hell he went through during his own hamon training. "Anyway, if you're so confident, then why don't you give it a shot?"

"Alright! I need to take steady, controlled breaths, right?" Yang repeated, causing Joseph to nod. "Well, here we go!"

"Kooohhhhhh….!" And just like he instructed, Yang began to take a series of deep, controlled breaths in the exact same manner as Joseph.

"There we go, just like that! I gotta admit, you're a pretty quick learner." Joseph complimented, admittedly impressed with how quick the blonde picked up on what she was supposed to do.

"Heh, thanks! So, what's next on the list?" Yang asked when she finished exhaling.

"Don't you worry. The next part is really simple." Joseph explained, getting Yang's attention once more.

"Alrighty then! You just name it and I'll get right on it!" The blonde exclaimed, her boastful nature showing once again.

"Well, simply put, all you have to do next is…" Suddenly, the Joestar walked right past Yang and towards the stairwell. "keep breathing like that until you start sparking electricity." And with that said, Joseph opened the door to the stairwell and stepped inside.

"Have fun." Was the last thing Joseph said before he began to close the door. However, before he could make his exit, Yang quickly jammed her foot between the door before the brunette could close it.

"Okay, I'm gonna have to stop you there big guy, because I'm not too sure I heard you right. What did you just say!?" Yang demanded, an incredulous look on her face as Joseph gave her a questioning look.

"What? Did you forget to clean your ears this morning? I said that you need to keep breathing until you begin to conduct some Hamon."

"THAT'S IT!? And you're just gonna leave me here too!? What if nothing happens!?" Yang demanded, causing Joseph to roll his eyes at her.

"If nothing happens, then it means that you probably can't use Hamon. I thought I made that pretty clear earlier. Look, I'm not sure if you were listening properly when I explained this to you the other day. I have better things to be doing with my time than sitting on a rooftop for god knows how long just because you wanna starting sparking electricity." Joseph stated bluntly. "I told you already that it's pretty unlikely you'll even have an affinity for Hamon, and I gave you the instructions on what to do if you wanna see if you're capable of it. At this point, I don't really see why I have to stay here any longer." And before the blonde could even state her outrage at his callous behavior, the Joestar simply put of his fingers on Yang's forehead, pushed her slightly away from the door, and then proceeded to slam the door shut while she was frozen in shock.

"I-uh… that…!"

"RAAARGH!" Yang yelled angrily, slamming her fist into the the wall of the stairwell, the force of the hit causing a large crack to show up on the wall. " That dismissive asshole! Well I'll freaking show him! Next time he sees me, I'm gonna be glowing as bright as freakin glowstick!" Determined to make Joseph eat his words, Yang quickly got back into position and began to double-time her efforts.

* * *

 **(A few hours later)**

"Oi oi! Hey Yang, you still up here?" Joseph asked as he opened the door to the dorm roofs, a bottle of water in his hands. "I uh… heard that the rest of your team hadn't seen you in a while, so I brought you some water in case you were thirsHOLY SHIT!"

As soon as Joseph's eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness when he opened the door, he was greeted with a half-conscious Yang lying on the floor, her skin now beat red. As soon as he saw his friend in this condition, the Joestar quickly hoisted her up by the shoulders and tried to coax her into waking up.

"Yang! Yang! C'mon, wake up already!" Joseph urged, snapping his fingers in front of Yang's face to get some kind of reaction out of her.

"Ugh… my head…" Yang choked out, her face barely audible as she cracked her lilac eyes open.

'Oh thank god, you scared the hell out of me." Joseph sighed, relief in his voice as he laid the blonde down and began to open up the bottle of water. Once the cap was taken off the bottle, he quickly gave it to the dehydrated blonde.

"Huh… wha…? Joseph? What're you doing here…?" Yang moaned out, rubbing her throbbing head as she sat up without Joseph's support.

"Will you shut up and drink already!? You're really dehydrated!" The blonde wanted to argue upon hearing his rude response, but found that she was too thirsty to care. And so, she quickly chugged down the bottle of water. The effects of this were almost immediate, with the red hue on Yang's skin paling considerably.

"Phew, much better… thanks." Yang said, trying to get back onto her feet, only to stumble as soon as she did so.

"Woah! Take it easy, will ya!?" Joseph exclaimed as he kept Yang from falling over again. "Alright, c'mon, you need to get some rest and water." The Joestar decided, putting the blonde's arm over his shoulder to support her.

"W-What!? No way! I can still keep going!" Yang protested, only to get an annoyed grunt from Joseph.

"Don't give me that crap, will ya? You need to get out of the sun already. Now will you stop dragging your feet and help me get you back to your room? Or am I gonna have to carry you bridal style?" The blonde gave off a few annoyed grunts, but eventually began to sluggishly drag her feet.

* * *

For a moment, there was a complete and total oppressive silence within Team RWBY's dorm room. The reason for this silence was because the only two occupants within it, Joseph and Yang, were currently having a stare-down. Yang was currently lying on her bed with a glass of ice-cold water in her hand, however, she couldn't drink it right now because she was too busy giving Joseph an ice-cold stare. The brunette returned it with a stone cold stare of his own. However, after another moment, he let out a sigh and began to speak up.

"Okay… so, in retrospect, leaving up on a rooftop at high noon with no water for a few hours was a pretty stupid move on my part. So I take complete responsibility there." Joseph admitted, getting a hum of agreement from Yang. "So, uh… I suppose as a way of saying sorry, I guess I could be a bit more attentive with your breathing and everything. So, if you're still interested in learning how to use Hamon, then I'll make sure to be around and be prepared when we're back on the roof, alright?" The brunette sumrised, hoping this would suffice as an apology, and judging by the amused chuckle that came out of Yang, it did.

"There, now was that so hard to say?" Yang asked coyly before she began to chug down the contents of her glass. "More than you'd think." Joseph responded dryly.

"Ah~! That hit the spot!" Yang sighed elatedly before she shoved the glass in Joseph's face. "Refill please~." The blonde said expectantly, ignoring the annoyed look on Joseph's face.

"OI! You aren't dying of a sickness, are you!? If not, then get your own damn drinks!"

"Well, I'm not dying of any sickness, but I DID almost die of heatstroke earlier. Does that count~?" Yang asked jokingly, a smug smile on her face. Joseph let out an annoyed grunt, but after a moment snatched the glass out of her hand and went off to refill it.

"Freakin bipolar psychopath." Joseph murmured under his breath, although the gleeful cackling from Yang indicated that he wasn't as quiet as he thought.

* * *

"Kooooo **ohhh…"** Yang breathed out, her eyes shut tightly in concentration as she tried to make some kind of electricity spark off her body. She and Joseph had spent the better half of the week with these daily training sessions on the roof, but so far, there hadn't been any apparent results to their efforts. Despite this, Yang was never one to give up easily, so she just kept at it.

"Alright, alright. I think it's about time you take five." Joseph as he tossed a bottle of water to the blonde. Catching it instinctively, the blonde quickly uncorked the bottle and began to chug it's contents down, relishing in the refreshing coolness it sent through her.

"Woo! Man! Who would've figured breathing would take so much effort?" Yang asked rhetorically as she sat down on next to Joseph. "I bet this would all be a lot easier if I could do it naturally like you do, huh?"

"Pfft. Look Yang, trust me when I say that my hamon training wasn't exactly a cake walk. I may be able to use hamon naturally, but my official training was a waking goddamn nightmare. Hell, I'd say that you got it easy by comparison!" Joseph stated. This caused Yang to look at him curiously in response.

"Hmm…y'know, now that I think about it, you really haven't told me, or anybody else for that matter, how you came to be so good at this stuff. Maybe you'd be interested in giving me the full story?"

"Oh boy. Where to even begin with all that?" Joseph asked rhetorically, a thoughtful look on his face before he continued. "Well, to keep things simple, me and a friend of my family had to go out of country on some important business. When we got there to our destination, I ended up meeting... meeting… uhh…" Joseph trailed off, a confused look beginning to show on his face.

"Joseph? Uh, Joseph! You alright?" Yang asked, drawing Joseph out of his thoughts. When he looked towards her, however, the blonde saw that there was distress all too aparent on the brunette's face.

"I… I can't remember…!" Joseph uttered, confusing Yang. "Can't remember? Can't remember what?"

"That's just it! I can't remember any of what I was doing between the time I left home and came to Rem-! Uh, Vale!" Joseph explained, growing more panicked by the second. "That's over two months of time I can't remember! How the hell does that even work!?"

"Woah! Woah! Easy! Take it easy big guy!" Yang explained, trying to reassure Joseph before he got any more panicked. "Now normally, I'd just figure that this is some kinda joke, but you seem pretty serious, so I'll take your word for it. Now, you're saying that you can't remember _**anything**_ before you came to Vale?"

"Nothing! It doesn't make any sense at all!" Joseph admitted, clutching his forehead as he racked through his mind, trying to remember _**anything**_ about the two months of time he lost.

"Alright, look. How about this?" Yang began, placing a hand on Joseph's back. "I'm not exactly sure how this happened to you, or why it happened for that matter, but you shouldn't stress yourself out about it like this."

"WHAT!? Are you seriously trying to tell my that forgetting two months of my life ISN'T something I should be worried about!?" Joseph demanded angrily, suddenly standing up from his seat on the edge of the roof to glare at the surprised Yang.

"What!? No! I'm just saying that-"

"Look blondie, whatever you're suggesting isn't something that I can do!" Joseph interrupted suddenly. "I can't remember a thing about the time I lost, but I got this gut feeling in my stomach that it was important as all hell! I can't just sit around like a jackass and do-"

"Will you just _sit down_ and **shut up**!?" Yang retorted, forcing Joseph to sit back down on the roof and stay quiet. "I wasn't suggesting _any of that,_ JoJo! I'm just trying to tell you that freaking out like this is going to do more harm than good! Acting rashly like this is just gonna end badly... take it from someone who knows…" The harsh words from the brawler caused the panicked expression on brunette to fade away, being replaced with a stressed, yet apologetic look on his face.

"Shit… yeah, you're right. I better just try to relax. Sorry about uh… snapping at you like that…" Joseph apologized, unable to look at Yang as he said this. The blonde still looked annoyed at the Joestar for a second, but after another moment, the look of anger on her face began to fade away.

"Yeah well, I can imagine suddenly realizing that you can't remember two months of your life wouldn't put anybody in a good mood." Yang said, her easy-going smile coming back onto her face. "Just try and relax for now, alright? You'll probably figure out whatever's wrong in no time."

Rubbing the back of his neck, the brunette got up and began to walk towards the entrance back into the dorms.

"Yeah, that's a good idea, I'll just get myself a snack then get some sleep. I'll see you later Yang. And thanks for the help." And with that said, Joseph open up the door and walked inside, closing it behind him and leaving the blonde alone on the roof.

' _Geeze. It really is hard to tell what goes through his head sometimes.'_ Yang thought to herself, a dry smile on her face as she looked towards the rest of Beacon.

' _Welp,'_ Suddenly, the brawler got back into position and began to resume breathing. _'Back to work.'_

* * *

 **(Exactly a week since Joseph's visit to Lucky Land.)**

"Man, talk about some crazy weather." Joseph murmured to himself as he walked down the Vale street, getting soaked by the oncoming downpour as he did so. A week had finally passed since the brunette's visit to Lucky Land and upon waking up this morning, he had found a message on his scroll from Rohan requesting that he come see him. Assuming that the fashion designer had managed to finish up the clothes he talked about during his first visit, Joseph got dressed and took the first airship available to Vale's shopping district, eager to see what this alleged outfit would look like. However, this was all made far more difficult than it initially seemed when the Joestar realized he woke up to a freaking downpour of rain outside. That being said, Joseph was never one to let something as trivial as rain slow him down, and so, he merely donned a short-sleeved jacket with a hood before he set out.

Eventually, after a bit more walking, the Joestar managed to make it back to the plaza that housed the eccentric clothing desinger's store. Wasting no time once it came into view, Joseph quickly rushed into the store to get out of the rain.

"Well, that left me feeling pretty water-logged." Joseph murmured as he threw his hood off his head and rain his hand through his hair. For the most part, the Joestar managed to keep his brown locks from getting soaked, but his bangs still some water on them. However, once Joseph was finished shaking some of the excess water off him, he noticed something odd: he was the only person present inside the store.

' _That's weird, you'd think this place would be a bit more crowded on the weekend.'_ Joseph thought as he began to make his way to Rohan's office, looking around the oddly empty store as he did so.

' _Maybe he's working on some new outfit and he didn't want to be interrupted…?'_ Joseph pondered as he walked into the hallway that led to the employee's only part of the store. After a bit more walking, the brunette eventually found himself standing in front of the closed door to Rohan's office. There was some light shining through the bottom of the door, indicating that the fashion designer was likely in the office. The sound of what appeared to be scribbling only made this more likely.

"Uh, hey Rohan. You in here…?" Joseph asked as he opened up the door. Once the office came into full view, the Joestar found that Rohan was indeed in the room and engrossed in his work. However, rather than drawing out some kind of design for some new type of outfit, he noticed that the fashion designer seemed to have been drawing some type of a _comic,_ of all things.

' _Is he… making a comic…? Huh, never would've imagined a guy like him would do something like this on the side.'_ Joseph thought as Rohan continued drawing out his comic, seemingly unaware of his presence. However, getting the eccentric man's attention was no longer at the top of the Joestar's mind when he noticed something astonishing. Despite his main profession being to design clothes for a living, Rohan was making this comic with the speed, focus, and skill of a professional. His attention was on nothing else but the paper in front of him, and it certainly showed. The speed at which he was drawing an entire page was unbelievable. In no less than a moment, the once blank page now had a detailed set of comic-book pictures on them.

' _The hell!? I've never seen somebody draw so quickly! What the hell is up with this guy!?'_

"Yes… this is truly fantastic…!" "I've never felt such an ongoing rush of inspiration before!" Rohan spoke up suddenly, holding up the page he just finished drawing and looking at it with an awe-filled smile. "With such inspiration, I can create so many beautiful things now…"

"What…? What the hell are you going on about?" Joseph asked, growing unnerved by Rohan's odd behavior. In response, a smirk began to creep onto the black and green haired man's face before he turned towards the Joestar.

"And it's all thanks to you, "JoJo…" Your experiences are the reason why I've felt such bursts of brilliance." Rohan said, bringing out what seemed to be a piece of paper that was in the shape of a face. For some reason, Joseph broke out into a cold sweat the moment he laid eyes on the paper.

"However, just one page won't do… I simply must have the rest of your experiences!" And before he could say anything, Rohan, with a flick of his wrist, reactivated the effects of _**「**_ _ **Heaven's Door,**_ _ **」**_ turning Joseph's body back into paper and causing him to lose control of his limbs once again.

"M-My… MY BODY!" Joseph screamed out in shock as he fell to the floor. "You bastard! I remember everything you did to me now!" The brunette growled, glaring at Rohan.

"Oh come now Joseph. I can't help but feel that you're looking at this whole situation the wrong way. Think about it. By doing this, I'm immortalizing you within my work! With that in mind, is you dying here really that big of a price when I'm allowing you to live forever within my work?" Rohan asked rhetorically as he began to walk towards Joseph.

"As a matter of fact, YES! YOU FUCKING PSYCHOPATH! I'd much rather be alive now than be used as fuel for your weird-ass projects!" Joseph yelled before spawning Hermit Purple and wrapping the vines around the door in an attempt to pull himself away from the deranged man. However, he didn't get far before Rohan suddenly stomped and grinded the vines to bits.

"Are we done struggling?" Rohan smirked before he began to kneel down and reach towards one of the pages on Joseph's face.

"Don't _move._ "

However, before Rohan could attempt to rip the rest of the pages off of Joseph's face, a female voice from right behind him caused him to freeze dead in his tracks.

"V-Ve…" Joseph stuttered, hardly able to speak.

"You really are becoming a bit of a nuisance, Ms. Scarlatina…" Rohan remarked, a neutral look on his face as he slowly began to get up from his crouching position.

"VELVET!" Joseph finally managed to say, relief clear in his voice as he looked at the brown haired faunus. True to his sight, the Joestar found himself looking at Velvet Scarlatina as she stood behind Rohan, a determined look on her face as she looked at Rohan and Joseph.

"I didn't say you could stand up." Velvet said coldly to Rohan, who still hadn't turned around to look at the rabbit faunus.

"I really must admit, this is quite dilemma I find myself in. Not only has somebody caught me in this compromising position, but that person is also an experienced huntress-in-training with plenty of combat experience, no doubt." Rohan drawled out as he turned to look towards Velvet, the expression on his face indicating he wasn't truly worried. "Now, if I was the main character of my own comic book series, what would I do to solve this little problem of mine?"

 ***Grip***

" _Hrrgk…"_

Rohan looked as though he had more to say, but before he could say anything else, Velvet suddenly put the deranged man in a choke hold before he could react.

"Don't think that I'm just messing around. You're going to restore my friend's body to normal or I'm going to send you to the Vale police department with an assault charge on your head. And I don't care about who you are, I'll bring you in regardless." Velvet said harshly, her hold on Rohan making it impossible for him to do anything. "Now, tell me how to return JoJo to normal, right now."

"Well, it seems Joseph was incorrect when his page claimed you were 'very cute and softspoken.'" Rohan choked out in an attempt to taunt Velvet. In response, the rabbit faunus merely tightened her hold around the fashion designers neck.

"I'm _NOT_ in the mood to deal with your mind games. Now are you going to tell me how to return my friend to normal, or will I have to show you what two years worth of missions at Beacon can do?" Velvet stated angrily, although if Rohan or Joseph had a better look at her face, they'd be able to see the dark-red tint on the girl's face.

"Alright! Fine! I know when I'm beaten!" Rohan choked out, trying to loosen Velvet's grip on her. "You win, the key to restoring Mr. Joestar's body to normal is on my desk. There's a piece of paper rather clear to see on it, if you destroy it, it's affects on your friend will be negated."

"Is that so?" Velvet said skeptically, looking towards the desk, unaware of the smirk that was on Rohan's face or the look of panic on Joseph's.

' _Dammit! He's trying to make her look at his stand! I gotta warn her!'_ However, When Joseph tried to warn Velvet of the upcoming danger, he found that no words came out of his mouth, only a muted gasp. The same thing happened during his second and third attempt as well. No matter what the brunette did, he found himself completely unable to warn Velvet about Rohan's stand.

' _The hell!? What's going on!? Why can't I say anything!?'_ Joseph thought frantically as Velvet came closer and closer to the desk that had _**「**_ _ **Heaven's Door**_ _ **」**_ on it with Rohan still in a choke-hold. However, as Joseph continued to wrack his brain for some kind of explanation for his sudden inability to speak, the sound of Rohan's voice flashed through his head.

 _ **「'**_ _ **I cannot do anything to the great Kishibe Rohan with the intention of harming him'**_ _ **」**_

' _ARRRRGH! This fucking safety lock! I completely forgot about it!'_ Since warning Velvet would count as 'intentionally harming him,' that meant that he was physically unable to say a word. And so, thanks to the spell that Rohan's infernal stand placed on him, Joseph was completely helpless as he watched Velvet fall straight into the deranged man's trap.

 ***Flap-flap-flap***

"Wh-what!? AH!"

As soon as she looked at the manuscript and saw the odd looking figure featured prominently in all the pictures, Velvet's arms and legs were suddenly reduced to various pages of paper that only vaguely connected her hands and feet to the rest of her body. The sudden lost of weight on her legs caused the rabbit faunus to lose her grip on Rohan and fall to the ground, completely helpless.

"Y-You LIAR! You tricked me!" Velvet said, shock and anger clear in her voice.

"Liar? Now, I wouldn't go that far. I DID say that the cause of Joseph's, and most recently, your condition was that page on my desk, and I DID say that destroying it would return him to normal, you just didn't think to ask if looking at it would be dangerous." Rohan stated smugly, crouching down towards Velvet's fallen body as he said this.

"By the way, Joseph, I'd like to get your opinion on something, if you wouldn't mind." Rohan said as he got out his pen and began to write something on the unwilling Velvet.

"Why do you suppose that friend of yours, Yang Xiao Long, if I read this correctly, is hiding behind that door?" Rohan questioned, leaning back into his desk as he looked at the agape door.

"Ya-Yang!? Yang's here too!?" Joseph managed, looking towards the doorway to see if the blonde brawler was indeed inside the clothing store as well.

"Seems like it, so what do you think? Why won't she come out and face me?"

 _ **ゴ**_

 _ **ゴ**_

 _ **ゴ**_

 _ **ゴ**_

"Heh… why do you think, asshole?" Joseph smirked, realizing what Yang was trying to do. "Now that she knows how your Stand works, she isn't just gonna run in here gauntlets blazing! She's already thinking up a way to get to you without looking at your stand, and when she gets her hands on you, she's gonna kick your shit in!"

"Hm, yes. That does seem to be the case. Very perceptive of you." Rohan hummed in agreement, rubbing his chin in thought.

"I must admit, this is actually very bad. Ms. Scarlatina fell into my trap because she wasn't aware of my abilities, allowing me to easily catch her off guard. But because of that, I unfortunately ended up tipping my hand to Ms. Xiao Long." Rohan explained, grabbing onto the page that held **「** **Heaven's Door.** **」** as he did so.

"I must admit, I'm at quite the disadvantage here. But that also makes me wonder…" Rohan trailed off for a moment, a contemplative smile creeping onto his face before he continued.

"if she has me at the disadvantage, then why do you suppose she hasn't come out yet?"

" _ **!?"**_ Both Velvet and Joseph mentally gasped when they heard this. Just what exactly was Rohan trying to imply here?

"Do you think it because… she's considering leaving you both behind?" Rohan suggested, a coy smile creeping onto his face. "Hm, the more I think about it, the more plausible it see-"

"GUESS AGAIN ASSHOLE!"

However, before Rohan could even finish that sentence, Yang suddenly jumped out from behind the doorway and stepped into the room, determination clear in her posture.

"Oh?"

However, if one payed attention, then they would notice something very off about Yang, and that was the fact that _**「**_ _ **her eyes were clenched shut.**_ _ **」**_

"You're closing your eyes to avoid looking at heaven's door?" Rohan asked, a slightly baffled look on his face. "Well, I suppose it IS an effective, if extremely childish tactic." Upon noting this, the baffled look on his face faded into an analytical look.

"Yes, it's actually very effective, especially considering the environment. I have practically nowhere to escape to if you get close, and if you can manage to get one clean blow in on me, then that'd be more than enough to defeat me and temporarily 'break' _**「**_ _ **Heaven's Door.**_ _ **」**_ and reverse the effects it has on these two." Rohan noted, observing how Yang perked up when he said this.

"That's all I gotta do, huh? Well, thanks for simplifying things for me, buddy." Yang thanked merrily, all the while unaware of the smirk on Rohan's face as she started to walk towards him.

"That being said," Rohan began as he picked up a couple of razors off his desk. "Getting you to open your eyes shouldn't be too difficult!" And with that, the deranged man threw the razors at Yang like they were throwing knives. Upon hearing something coming towards her, the blonde reacted instinctively and put her arms up in a block. The razors were stabbed into her arms, but they didn't cause Yang to open her eyes. She merely staggered back in pain for a moment before she continued going towards Rohan.

' _Freaking painful, but my aura will fix me up once I pull them out.'_ Yang thought as she ignored the stinging pain in her arms. _'Right now, I gotta focus on the positives, like how I'm going to make this bastard wish he was never born when I get to him.'_

' _Damn, looks like I'll have to be a bit more creative.'_ Rohan thought as Yang kept getting closer, racking through his brain for some way to trick the blonde into opening her eyes. _'Maybe there's something in Joseph's memories that I can use.'_

Deciding it would be his best shot, he quickly brought the page he took from Joseph's face up to him and began to look through it, trying to find any kind of information about Yang that he could use to his advantage. It didn't take the demented man very long before he found exactly what he was looking for. As soon as he laid eyes on this information, a victorious grin made it's way onto Rohan's face before he reached for something underneath his desk.

' _This is going to be almost too easy. I mean honestly,'_ He mentally boasted as he found the item he was looking for and aimed it at Yang's head. _'Some people have the easiest pet peeves to take advantage of.'_ And with that thought in mind, Rohan flicked the object he retrieved right into Yang's scalp with great prescision. Almost immediately in response, the blonde stopped dead in her tracks the moment she felt something come into contact with her head. With slow, mechanical movements, she slowly reached up to her scalp and touched this unknown object. To her horror, she found that this object happened to be _**「**_ _ **very sticky and malleable.**_ _ **」**_ Even worse than that, when she tried to pull it out of her hair, she found that there was some resistance to it as well, meaning that she couldn't get this thing out of her scalp without costing her a few dear strands of her _**precious, painstakingly maintained, golden blonde locks of hair.**_ With barely any composure left in her voice, Yang opened her mouth to speak.

"...Is this a wad of-"

"Used chewing gum? Why yes, it is." Rohan stated simply, watching Yang's reaction with amusement. "When Joseph's memories showed me how critical you are of your hair, I felt the opportunity to use that little tidbit of information to my advantage was too good to pass up. So what do you think? An effective strategy I thought up, wasn't it?" Rohan taunted, that victorious smirk never leaving his face.

She was going to kill him. No matter what, Yang was going to make sure she left this _**fucking store**_ with this asshole's _**blood coating her goddamn hands.**_ As these dark thoughts went through the blonde's head, her body began to shake and her tainted hair began to rise up like fire.

"Y-Yang! Stop! Don't fall for his trap!" Velvet pleaded in a futile attempt to save the blonde from the trap she was about to walk into. However, it was all too clear that no words would get through to Yang in this state, she was far too infuriated to think about anything else besides how she was going to maim Rohan.

"Well, it looks like I win." Rohan stated, holding out the page with _**「**_ _ **Heaven's Door**_ _ **」**_ on it in advance, ready for when the shaking blonde would predictably open her eyes.

 ***Wraaaap***

However, Rohan's attention was drawn away from Yang when he suddenly felt something tightly wrap itself around his legs. Looking down, he was surprised to see the vines of _**「**_ _ **Hermit Purple**_ _ **」**_ wrapped around his leg.

"Wh-What!? Ho-!?"

 ***TUG***

Rohan didn't even have time to finish that exclamation before Joseph suddenly tugged on the vines with all his strength, sending the deranged man to the floor and causing _**「**_ _ **Heaven's Door**_ _ **」**_ to fly out of his grasp.

"And now you'll say, _**'Wh-what!? HOW!? I placed a safety lock on you!'**_ All you."

"HOW!? HOW'RE YOU DOING THIS!? I placed a safety lock on-!?" Rohan gasped when he realized he fell for Joseph's trick.

"You dumbass, while you were taking your sweet time messing with Velvet and Yang, I had an idea. If this damn 'safety lock' won't let me do anything to you, then why don't I just get rid of it!?" Joseph exclaimed, his smug smile returning with a vengeance now that he regained control of the situation.

"That's impossible! Removing what I wrote would go against the command of being unable to harm me! There's no way you could've removed the writing intentionally!" Rohan exclaimed, using his desk to try and hoist himself back up.

"Yeah, pretty much. Which is why I just decided to let nature run it's course." Joseph stated simply, his shit-eating smirk not fading in the slightest.

"Wh-what!? What are you talking about!?" Rohan stammered, a cold sweat beginning to run down his body.

"Well, just think of it like this. If I just so happened to get some water on my face in my current state, and I began to rub it with the intention of getting it off me, then it really can't be helped if I 'accidently' rub off your safety lock, can it?" Joseph explained cheerfully, causing Rohan to look at him in shock.

"Gotta admit! I thought the weather today was initially a real pain in my ass, but it certainly saved my skin in retrospect. It's a good thing _**「**_ _ **the water on my bangs dripped onto my face,**_ _ **」**_ or we would've been screwed!"

"...If that's the case, then that means you can…" Rohan trailed off, beginning to feel numb.

"Aw c'mon! Rohan! Buddy! My friend~! Do you really think that at this point I'm gonna be the one to hurt you? No!" Joseph said happily, causing Rohan to look at him in surprise.

"Wait… you're not going to attack me?" Rohan asked, the faintest sense of hope that he might get through this unscathed starting to run through him.

"Nooo~! Of course not!" However, any relief Rohan might've felt when Joseph said that faded away in an instant when the smile on the brunette's face began to grow malicious. "Beating the everloving shit outta you is gonna be her job~."

"...her?" Rohan repeated, his blood running cold.

"He's all yours Yang."

Suddenly, Rohan felt something grip his shoulder with vice-like strength. Turning around slowly, he was greeted with the sight of Yang Xiao Long giving him a smile that struck terror into his heart, her blood-red eyes conveying all the anger that her current expression hid.

"So, Rohan, right?" Yang began her voice disturbingly cheery. "Why don't I show you why it's a bad idea to _**fuck**_ with my hair."

"ORA!"

 ***Cru-UNCH***

And before Rohan could do anything, the blonde brawler punched him in the face, a satisfying bloody crunch echoing through the room.

"ORA!"

Yang repeated, sending her other fist into Rohan's gut and knocking the air out of the man.

"ORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORA **ORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORA!"** Yang repeated angrily as she sent a flurry of powerful punches cascading into Rohan without mercy. However, while she didn't appear to notice it, Joseph began to see that a **「** **yellow electricity** **」** was emanating from her arms as her attack continued.

" **KOOOOOH…. ORAAH!"**

And with that final battle cry, Yang unknowingly sent a punch that was radiating with hamon into Rohan's face. The blow was so powerful that it sent him crashing into his desk.

"WHEW! Talk about a great stress reliever! I'm feeling completely refreshed now~!" Yang sighed happily as she stretched her arms, feeling much better than she had a few moments ago. Sure, a small wad of gum was in her wonderful mane of hair, but with some scissors, she could probably minimize the damage it caused.

While Yang was basking in the afterglow of her beatdown, the effects of Heaven's Door were almost immediately reversed for Joseph and Velvet. As soon as Yang landed the final blow, their skin melded back into place like it was never turned into paper to begin with. A rather strange sentence to write down in retrospect, but hopefully, it wouldn't have to be used again.

"Alright! That's more like it. You alright, Velvet?" Joseph asked as he sat up unconsciously felt his face. When he looked towards her, he saw that the rabbit faunus was currently struggling to get back up, likely disorientated due to her limbs being turned into paper. Seeing her struggle like this, the Joestar quickly got up and helped her to her feet.

"I'm feeling a little disoriented, but yeah, I'm fine." Velvet answered as she steadied her feet. Once he was certain that she could stand alright, Joseph decided to ask her a question that had been on his mind for a little bit.

"So anyway, not that I'm not happy to see you girls and all, considering you kinda saved my skin back there, but what exactly are you two doing here?"

"Well, ever since last week, I had the feeling something was off about this place. Not only that, but I also noticed you were acting pretty strange all week as well. When I asked your teammates if they noticed anything similar, Yang said something about you forgetting time, or something along those lines." Velvet explained, gesturing towards the Jovial blonde and the half conscious Rohan. "I pretty much convinced her to trail you with me in case I was right about Rohan hiding something. And it seems I wasn't wrong either."

"Man, nice going Velve! Pretty good detective work on your part." Joseph complimented as he playfully started to ruffle up Velvet's hair, causing her to blush slightly.

"H-Heh, well, Yang was the one who pulled us both out of the fire here, so you should be thanking her too."

"You got that right! Buuut, punching the daylights out of a horrible person really is it's own reward, so no need to thank me, JoJo." Yang added in boisterously when she noticed the two talking.

After everything else had been said and done, the three of them moved onto the issue of Rohan and what they should do with him after he restored Joseph's memories. Surprisingly enough, despite everything he subjected him to, Joseph was oddly forgiving of the strange clothing designer and apparent comic writer. Despite Yang and Velvet's insistence that they turn him into the authorities, the Joestar argued that they didn't have any real proof of his crimes and that it'd all be more trouble than it was worth. However, this didn't stop Yang from threatening to deliver a beatdown twice as hard on him if he ever threatened to try something like this again.

However, the real reason for his reasoning was of course because Joseph was secretly quite interested in reading this _**'Pink Dark Boy'**_ comic Rohan was working on. If you asked him, anyone who could make a comic that cool-looking couldn't be THAT bad. Besides, the threat of another beatdown from Yang was more than enough to keep the man from trying anything else like this in the future.

And so, for the time being, things we're looking pretty good! While he would have to definitely look into this business with 'Stands' and deal with Yang's hamon training (something that was likely going to be much easier now, considering the blonde was using the electricity without even being aware of it), right now, Joseph was just interested in getting some rest for the time being.

* * *

' _Come now, there has to be something in this damnable text.'_ Professor Ozpin thought irritably as he read through the book he retrieved from the library. Now that night had finally befallen the academy, an ambient green glow had taken up the headmaster's office. Currently, the headmaster was looking through that text he acquired from the library a while back, hoping to find what he was looking for in it's contents. It was the first time the book has his undivided attention, and Ozpin was going to make good use of it too.

The headmaster had taken a few chances to skim through the book when he had the chance, but most of the time, he had too little time to actually make any good headway in what he was looking for. However, he had spent the last hour looking through this text hoping to find something, and the end result was hardly different here either. Fortunately for Ozpin, however, his luck was about to change the moment he turned the next page.

"Perfect," Ozpin smiled when he looked at the current page. "I knew it was in here somewhere."

 **A brief account of the Joestar family's history**

 _One prominent thing of note about the kingdom of Atlas is the prominence of noble families within it. However, while some families, such as the Schnee family, have been able to acquire a company and fortune that will ensure the security their family for many generations, there are just as many noble families that have fallen apart in such a short span of time. While some of these bloodlines end up tearing themselves apart via some sort of internal dispute, there is no tale more enigmatic as the history of the house of Joestar._

 _The exact details of the Joestar family's origins, or the exact time they made a name for themselves, is a topic that has no reliable source of information. It is known however that the family was able to work their way up to a wealthy and high-class living status thanks to a moderately successful company the family created that dealt with the creation and distribution of processed metals.(2) Thanks to the success of this company, the Joestar family was able to amass a sizeable fortune and cement the family in nobility._

 _The destruction of the family came to be twenty years before the beginning of the Great War, when the last remaining herr to the Joestar family, Jonathan Joestar, went on a honeymoon trip with his newly wed wife, Erina Pendleton Joestar. After a mysterious fire that razed his home to the ground and claimed the life of his father, George Joestar, and adopted brother, Dio Brando Joestar, Jonathan was the only remaining member of the family that could inherit it's fortune._

 _However, it seemed that fate did not want the Joestar bloodline to continue, for a malfunction in the ship lord Joestar and his wife used for their trip caused an explosion that killed everyone onboard. The exact details of this tragic accident are not clear, only that there was some sort of malfunction in the ship's inner works, causing the entire boat to go up in flames. There were no reported survivors of this accident, and_ _ **Jonathan and Erina were no exceptions to this**_ _. With no other reported members of the family known to be alive, the Joestar family's bloodline was effectively destroyed on that boat accident._

"Interesting…" Ozpin muttered as he looked at this text. "So it seems Joseph truly is from another world, one where the Joestar bloodline lives past Jonathan Joestar." As he reflected on this, the headmaster looked out the window and thought about the biggest question he now had on his mind.

 _I wonder what exactly happened on that ship?'_

 _ **-To be continued...**_

* * *

 **JoJo/RWBY database**

 **Kishibe Rohan's Heaven's Door**

 **Stats**

 **Destructive Power:D**

 **Speed:B**

 **Range:B**

 **Durability:B**

 **Precision:C**

 **Developmental Potential:A**

 **Abilities**

 **Book Transmutation: Heaven's Door's basic ability is to turn people into books, pages unfurling from their bodies, revealing detailed and absolutely true information on their subject, including physical characteristics, memories and thoughts from their earliest to their latest, personality, and any details on their special abilities. Targets may be incapacitated to varying degrees while under this effect. Rohan cannot read his own memories, nor perceive memories he shares with his target.**

 **Memory Removal: By removing pages, Rohan causes his target to lose any memories detailed there, along with a proportionate quantity of body mass.**

 **Write-in command: By writing into these pages, Rohan may create artificial memories, or make highly effective commands, Rohan's target will obey commands written into them closely, even against mental resistance. However, if the ink that the command was written with is smudged, or otherwise dampened, it decreases the effectiveness of the command.**

* * *

 **(1) It was never made clear just where Joseph was born in England as far as I know, so I'm just gonna say Mayfare for the hell of it.**

 **(2) I can only assume that processed metals, and the materials required to create robots and other weapons, is likely as important as dust in the RWBYverse.**

 _ **So, this is kinda off topic, but you know what would be awesome? A well made RWBY react fanfic where they watch Freeman's Mind. That would be hilarious.**_

 _ **Now, hopefully, the way Joseph and Yang defeated Rohan was well thought out. I wanted to make it similar to the fight scene in part 4, but different enough so that I wasn't just copy and pasting anything. In any case, I am an author and I adore feedback, so I am looking forward to any and all words and constructive criticism you have for this story! Now, if you excuse me, I'm gonna go see if I can buy DMC 4:SE. Legendary Dark Knight mode, here I come!**_


	13. Chapter 13

**Whew._. Uh…. hey guys. I just saw PVP… and Heroes And Monsters... and… the rest of Volume 3… and holy shit. Wow, this is DEFINITELY going to make the future storyline format a bit more complicated...**

 **...In other news, I really do feel terrible for doing this to you all. Close to two months of waiting and for what? A shitty filler chapter that focuses mainly on the goddamn Jaundice arc! I can't say I'd blame any of you if you end up leaving me with a crapton pissy reviews because of this. Sorry.**

 **Disclaimer: lolrus555 owns neither JoJo's Bizarre Adventure nor RWBY, they belong to Hirohiko Araki and Rooster Teeth respectively.**

 **Joseph Joestar: Hamon Hunter**

"Oi! Pyrrha! Hold on a minute, would ya?" Joseph called out when he saw the Pyrrha in the dorm hallways.

「」

"Oh, JoJo! Is there something you need?" The red-head asked, turning to the muscular brunette with a pleasant smile clear on her face. Now that he got her attention, Joseph ran a hand through his hair, wondering how exactly he should phrase this, before he responded.

"Well, here's the thing, the past couple of days, I've kinda noticed that Jaune's been pretty sorry-looking for some reason. Since you seem to be the closest to him on your team and everything, I was wondering if you knew what was going on with him. So… uh… do you?" Lately, the Joestar noticed that his blonde friend hadn't been looking too hot. Practically every time he saw the blonde, he had these big bags under his eyes and looked like he hadn't gotten much sleep either. This fact, coupled with the fact that he seemed to be up to his neck in work, didn't seem to imply anything good.

However, at the mention of Jaune, Pyrrha's smile faded into a bemused frown, something that caught the Joestar a bit by surprise. He figured that the redhead and blonde got along pretty well from what he had seen, and in all honesty, thought they would've made a pretty cute couple, so to see her gain such an annoyed expression upon mentioning him was certainly unexpected.

"Oh, I don't think you need to worry about him, JoJo. I'm sure my team's _**wonderful leader**_ has everything under control." Pyrrha answered, a hint of bitterness lacing her voice.

"Uh huh… say, is everything going alright between you and him?" Joseph asked, deciding he wouldn't dance around the issue.

"Well, I don't really think I should go into full detail, but let's just say that last night, something happened with Jaune that left me rather disappointed with him." The red head answered solemnly, Jaune's words from last night still stinging her. Upon hearing this, the questioning look on Joseph's face turned to a knowing one before he placed a hand on her shoulder consolingly.

"Ah, I see how it is. I'm guessing you and him took things to second base and were disappointed by what you found, huh? What a shame." Joseph drawled out, causing Pyrrha's entire face to turn bright red.

"Wh-Wh-WHAT!? JoJo, how in the world did you possibly come to that conclusion!?" Pyrrha stammered, too embarrassed to even look at Joseph.

"Oh, so you're saying you didn't? Nevermind then." Joseph said quickly, an innocent tone in his voice. "so anyway, what does this conversation you two had have to do with anything?" He asked, getting back to the topic at hand.

"W-well, ever since then, he's been constantly hanging around Cardin and his team. Honestly, I don't know the exact details, so you'll have to ask him." Pyrrha answered, her solemn mood returning to her.

"I'm sorry that I don't know any more than that, JoJo. It's just that ever since my conversation with him on the roof, Jaune and I haven't exactly been on speaking terms for the time being." The spartan girl admitted, looking away from Joseph.

"Right… look Pyrrha, no offense or anything, but you're kinda sounding a bit… bitter about this whole situation." The Joestar stated bluntly, causing Pyrrha to look at him in shock.

"Bitter!? JoJo, how on Remnant did you interpret any of what I've told you as being bitter!?" Pyrrha demanded, sounding more than a little offended by Joseph's accusations.

"Well, for starters, this entire conversation, the only way I could describe your tone the moment I brought Jaune up was… well, let's say… _**shitty.**_ "

"Shitty!? I-Well…!" Pyrrha stammered out, growing increasingly upset until she let out a tired sigh. "The only reason why I'm in such a bad mood is because I KNOW Jaune's been in trouble in Cardin. I want to help him, I really do, but he made it clear to me that he didn't want any help. That this was something he needed to deal with on his own..."

Once she finished her explanation, the spartan couldn't help but feel even more upset about the recent turn of events. Looking down at the ground, she only had one other thing to say. "It's just… frustrating…"

 ***Poke***

However, Pyhrra was brought back to the present when she felt something poke her head. As soon as she noticed this, whatever touched her head increased it's force, forcing her to stop looking down at the ground and back at Joseph, which revealed that he poked her forehead when she wasn't looking.

"Ah, you don't worry your pretty red head about it Pyhrra, I'll fix this up," Joseph explained, a cat-like smile beginning to grow on his face. "normally, I like to stay out of other people's business if I can avoid it, but if this whole issue is gonna brew some major melodrama, I think we're all better off if it gets fixed up quickly."

"I got my own ways of getting info. I'll see what the whole deal with Jauney boy is, and then I'll fix it up, so stop with the sour attitude, will ya?" And after giving Pyrrha a playful flick on the forehead, Joseph decided to make his exit.

"JoJo…?" Pyrrha's voice called out, causing Joseph to look back at her questioningly.

"Yeah, something else you need?"

"You're a good friend to be doing this, thank you." The Spartan thanked, her smile beginning to return to her face.

"Yeah, I am pretty amazing, aren't I?" He asked rhetorically before taking his leave.

* * *

"Alright, let's see if this'll actually work." Joseph muttered to himself as he held his scroll out in his hand and summoned **「** **Hermit Purple** **」** **.** Upon learning from Rohan that his stand's ability made him some sort of clairvoyant, the brunette had spent the past couple of days experimenting with his stand to see what it's capabilities were. Aside from what he was doing currently, his most recent subject of experimentation involved breaking some old polaroid cameras with his stand to get some images. For his own safety, Joseph felt it would be prudent that he doesn't mention what the contents of his spirit photography were, but let's just say that they were some... **memorable photos.(1)**

' _Okay, let's see here… Ruby told me that the TV app for this thing should be riiiiight… here!'_ Upon finding the app on the device that would let him watch television, Joseph wrapped his stand around the scroll before he began to work his magic. After some more experimenting with his spirit photography, the Joestar learned that he could get some kind of psychic signal if he used **「** **Hermit Purple** **」** on something like a radio or a television. Since his scroll came with a feature that let him watch television on it, he figured that it would work as a decent substitute for a TV.

' _Alright, now if I just think of Jaune, then the scroll should give a good read on what his current thoughts are. So let's give it a shot!'_ With that objective in mind, Joseph began to focus on his blonde friend, which caused static to display on the screen of his scroll for a moment before various different channels began to pop up on the screen and change.

"EMBRACE THE LEGACY OF YOUR BLOODLINE, JOOOOO-"

 ***Click***

"Maybe I should give you the peace in death that I can't seem to grant you in-"

 ***Click***

"I AM SHOCK! WOOOO-"

 ***Click***

"HOES AND WINE, ALL ZE TI-"

As the channels on the scroll's screen continued to change at a rapid pace, all the interchanging voices of various people began to form a garbled message for Joseph to hear..

" _ **CAR*Click*DIN*Click*IS BLA*Click*CK*Click*MAIL*Click*ING JA*Click*UNE. COULD GET THR *Click*OWN OUT OF BEA*Click*CON."**_ Was what the message appeared to be before the scroll's screen returned to static.

"Ohhh, so Crewcut's been blackmailing Jaune, hasn't he? Well, that would explain the extra workload he has." Joseph mused to himself, annoyed that Cardin would go out of the way to blackmail his friend like this.

"Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure the class is heading somewhere tomorrow on a trip. I'll just teach that punk and his goons a lesson by then. Let the fucker know I don't appreciate him messing with my buddies..." With that objective planned out, Joseph called back **「** **Hermit Purple** **」** before closing his scroll.

 _ ***Fiiiiizzzz…***_

However, just as he was about to close the device, Joseph began to hear what seemed to be some kind of sizzling coming from his scroll. When he looked back at it, he saw that a faint smoke was beginning to radiate from his scroll, indicating nothing good.

"Hm? What's going on with my-?"

 _ ***FIIZZ!**_ **CRACK!***

And before Joseph could even finish that question, a few sparks of electricity crackled off his scroll before even more excess smoke began to spew out of it. When he opened it again and tried to get it working, he was only greeted with a blank screen, showing that his stand must've somehow broke his scroll.

"Ah crap! The damn thing shorted out! It's gonna be a real pain in the ass getting somebody to fix this thing up!" And with this new problem on his mind, Joseph decided he would deal with Jaune's blackmail issues afterwards.

* * *

 **(The next day)**

"Jesus, red as far as the eye can see!" Joseph whistled to himself, impressed by the piercing red of Forever Fall forest. If the brunette recalled correctly, one of his school's professors (he believed their name was… Tangerine, or something?) had arranged for a trip to this forest so that he and the rest of the class could collect some tree sap for him. Quite frankly, Joseph wasn't quite sure why a school that focused on how to fight soulless monsters also had assignments that involved harvesting tree sap, but hey, he wasn't gonna complain about the change of scenery, that's for sure.

"Yes students, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful, but just remember that we are not here to sightsee!" Ms. Goodwitch reminded everybody present as she led them all through the forest. "Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest, and I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so."

Once the group made it to their destination within the forest, Ms. Goodwitch turned towards everybody before holding out a jar of violet sap for all to see. "Each of you is to gather one jar of red sap. However, this forest is teeming with the creatures of Grimm, so make sure to stay by your team at all times. Now, are there any questions?"

"Oh! Oh Oh Oh! Pick me! I got a super important question!" Nora said excitedly, throwing her hand up into the sky as far as she could.

"...Anyboy? Anybody at all…?" Ms. Goodwitch asked after a moment, dutifully ignoring Nora and looking towards everybody else, who unfortunately didn't appear to have any questions.

"Right here! It's the biggest question you'll ever hear this entire year!" Nora continued, trying to get Glynda's attention. When it was clear that no one aside from Nora had an actual question, she could only let out an exasperated sigh before addressing her.

"Yes, Ms. Valkyrie…?" Glynda sighed, hoping to the four maidens that Nora had an actual question and was not about to spout some gibberish.

"Once we fill up a jar, can we keep whatever else we get for ourselves!?" The hammer-wielder asked happily. Glynda, surprised that Nora actually asked a reasonable question, took a moment to think about what she should say before answering.

"I… suppose so, just so long as you all get the required samples. Understood?" Upon seeing most of the students nod in confirmation, she continued. "Then you may all go. Have fun."

Joseph was about to follow after Team RWBY and JNPR until he noticed Pyrrha lagging behind, looking at something with a forlorn look on her face. When he looked where she was looking, he saw that Cardin was hauling an uncomfortable looking Jaune with the rest of his team. The red-head kept her gaze on Jaune for another moment before Joseph nudged her in the shoulder, bringing her back to reality.

"Don't get gray hairs worrying about him, will ya? I'll make sure he doesn't do anything stupid." Upon hearing this, Pyrrha paused for a moment before letting out a small sigh.

"...Please do."

* * *

After getting all the supplies he needed from Ms. Goodwitch, Joseph found himself standing in front of a tree while the rest of the group focused on extracting the sap. Upon realizing that he was good to go, the Joestar uncorked the jar and got to work himself in extracting some sap from the tree.

' _Alright… so I'm supposed to get some sap from these trees? Seems easy enough!'_ After looking around the tree for a good place to start, Joseph used the small drill that was given to him to create a small hole in the tree. Once the hole was deep enough, a dark red substance which he assumed was the sap began to ooze out of it. Wasting no time, the brunette opened up the jar and began to gather the sap.

' _Perfect! Now I just gotta wait for this molasses to fill up the jar and I'll be set!'_

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _._

"BORED NOW!" Deciding that he needed to speed this process up a bit, Joseph decided to apply the magic touch to this tree. Placing his palm on the bark, he began to let an excess amount of Hamon flow into the tree. No more than a moment after the bright-yellow energy began to flow throughout the tree, it began to undergo a sudden growth spurt. The bark on the tree began to take on a lively shade of brown, fresh, bright red leaves began to sprout on upper branches of the tree, and a steady flow of tree sap began to come out of the hole Joseph created.

"He ha! Now we're talking!" Joseph remarked, pleased with the effect his hamon had on the tree. In no time flat, the Joestar now gathered up to ten jars of excess tree sap.

"Wow, looks like you struck gold, huh?" A voice remarked. Looking up from his sap gathering, Joseph saw Yang looking at him with an amused looked on her face. The rest of the present students also seemed to notice this spectacle, but were soon drawn back to their own work.

"Please. I don't strike gold, I make my own gold." Joseph boasted, tightening the lid on another full bottle.

"You could probably pull this off too if you try using your hamon. Which reminds me, have you been doing your breathing excercises like I told you?" Ever since what happened with Rohan, Yang's hamon training had been yielding much more progress. Currently, the busty blonde was able to actually generate some hamon now! Granted, it took a fair amount of effort on her part and the hamon she generated was nowhere near a disciplined practitioner's level, but it was something. Yang had also been quite pumped up with the leap in the training she made and had persevered with her breathing exercises since then.

"I never leave bed before I do! I gotta tell you though, it's been getting easier with each day! At this rate, I'll be using hamon like a pro in no time!" Yang bragged before something else came to mind. "Anyway, what were you saying about 'making your own gold?'"

"I'm saying that I just used my hamon to get all this sap." Joseph explained, leaning on one of the trees as he said this.

"It can do that?" Yang asked, brows raised.

"H'yup! All plants need sunlight to grow, and if I overcharge something with hamon, it grows _much_ faster." Then, in an effort to prove his point, he put his hand on the tree was leaning on and began to let his hamon flow into it. The results yielded the same results as the other tree, albeit with less sap since there was no hole in it.

"Woah. I didn't realize this power had so many uses." Yang muttered, unaware of just how many capabilities hamon had.

"You didn't? Well then! Here's your next lesson." the brunette explained disinterestedly, looking around the forest as he spoke. "Why don't you make the lives of you and your team a lot easier by doing the same trick I showed you on one of the trees you're using? If you can pull it off, then… then…" However, mid explanation, Joseph noticed something on the hill nearby that caught his attention. It appeared to be a very pissed looking Cardin and his team that were in the middle of dragging Jaune off somewhere.

"JoJo? Hey JoJo! What's wrong?" Yang asked, drawing Joseph's attention back to her.

"Uh… it's nothing. Look, I gotta go somewhere. I'll be back in a little bit, just give what I told you a try." Joseph explained to Yang offhandedly, heading in the direction Cardin dragged Jaune off.

"Huh? Alright, but where are you going?

"Oh well, nature calls. You know how it is." He explained dismissively before jogging after Cardin.

"Yeah… wait, WHAT!?"

* * *

"What? You think talk like that makes you tough? You think you're a big strong man now?" By the time Joseph caught up to them, Cardin and his team were already in the middle of beating Jaune down.

 _ ***Pwooom***_

However, just as he was about to intervene, he and the rest of team CRDL were blinded by a sudden burst of bright light that shone from Jaune. When the light cleared up, the previously bruised and battered Jaune didn't have a scratch on him. The blonde seemed to be just as surprised by this development, looking at his faintly glowing arms in shock. While he was looking at his arms, however, he was unaware of Sky Lark, who was about to blindside him from behind.

" **CLACKER VOLLEY!"** That being said, the armor-clad student didn't have enough time to do this before Joseph's clackers flew towards him and tied itself around his legs, the sudden lack of balance causing him to faceplant the ground.

"What the- **GRK"** Cardin didn't have enough time to finish that before another set of clackers wrapped around his neck.

"Well, looks to me like you'll need another lesson in manners, won't you Crew-Cut?" Joseph spoke up, making his presence known to the five of them, his right hand on his hips and his posture bold.

"J-Joseph!?" Jaune exclaimed before getting up. The last thing he expected today was for somebody to get himself out of this mess he got himself into, least of all from Joseph, whom he hadn't really spoken to since Cardin started blackmailing him. That being said, his intervention, while surprising, was still very welcome.

"No need to worry Jaune! I came here to save the day." Joseph smiled, enjoying the look of shock on his friends face.

"You again? You really need to know when you should stay out of other people's business, asshole." One of Cardin's teammates, Dove Bronzewing, if Joseph recalled correctly, spat, glaring at the cocky brunette.

"Oh, you're gonna regret that, you fucker!" Cardin gasped, finally untangling the clackers from his neck and hand and glaring at Joseph. "When we're through with you, the only thing left of you are gonna be your stupid toys and your dumbass scarf!" The leader of team CRDL exclaimed angrily, throwing the clackers to the ground to accentuate his point.

"Pfft! You stupid goddamn punks really think you can beat me? After all the shit I've been through, losing to a buncha dumbasses like you would just be pathetic." Joseph boasted confidently. After facing down thugs, vampires, thousand year old monsters, and what was essentially a physical god, four arrogant jerks with some weapons would be laughably easy to take down.

 ***Thump Thump Thump***

However, before this very one-sided battle could take place, the sound of some loud thumping diverted everbody's attention. looking to the source of the noise, it turned out that a gigantic Ursa Major had snuck up behind Joseph when he wasn't looking. The Ursa was likely drawn to the sap that was on Cardin's chest piece, if the fact that it's blood-red eyes were solely on him was any indication.

"Huh, I guess gigantic, soulless monsters like drinking tree sap. Who knew?" Joseph noted casually as the Ursa Major let out loud roar.

"That's a big Ursa!" One of Cardin's teammates yelled as they made a break for it, running back to where the beginning of the forest. Joseph deftly dashed out of the way as the Ursa let out another roar and began to careen towards a stunned Cardin. The Joestar took this chance to head over to Jaune and help him up.

"Well, this all fell apart spectacularly," Joseph noted as he helped his friend up. Jaune looked as though he was about to say something, but the sound of something clattering at his feet caught his attention. Looking down, he saw that it was Cardin's mace, which the Ursa swiped out of his hands, meaning he was completely at the monster's mercy.

"...so, we gonna leave him, or should we help?"

"Are you REALLY joking about something like this!?" Jaune demanded incredulously.

"Okay, poor taste sorry!" The brunette apologized quickly before he sprung into action. Spawning his stand in both his hands, Joseph reached out and wrapped **「** **Hermit Purple's** **」** vines around the Ursa's body and diverting it's attention from the terrified Cardin. However, before he could overcharge the vines with hamon, the beast, in a surprising display of intelligence, swung it's body weight around, which in turn caused the unfortunate wielder of these vines to start swinging around the clearing like he was on some kind of demented carnival ride.

" **OOO** **HHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOO!"** Joseph screamed as he continued to spin around. Jaune was unable to help, the scene in front of him reminding him of a trainwreck. He knew he shouldn't just _watch,_ but there was something just so transfixing about this that he couldn't help but do anything but that.

" **I THIIINK I'M GONNAAA BE SIIIIIICK!"** So discombobulated by this perpetual spinning, Joseph eventually lost control of his stand power, which eventually led to **「** **Hermit Purple's** **」** vines disappearing, causing him to be sent sprawling across the clearing.

"Okay… OKAY! THAT DIDN'T WORK!" Joseph exclaimed, stilled dazed before he regained his focus. "But this is still not a problem! If my stand won't work, then it's nothing that my clackers can't… fix…" Joseph's voice trailed off when he realized that he was grasping at air. It took the Joestar a moment before he realized that _**he already used his clackers on team CRDL.**_ And since the Ursa was too strong for **「** **Hermit Purple** **」** **,** that meant he was completely open to attack.

"Ahhhhh crap…"

" **ROOOOAAAAR!"**

And with that, the Ursa sent a mighty swing Joseph's way, the force of the blow sending him flying into one of the trees. The force of the impact was so powerful that it left the tree with some indentations and Joseph hacking out some blood.

' _Fuckin' A!'_ Joseph thought frantically, getting up just in time to avoid another swipe from the Ursa. _'All I need is one good hit on this fucker to stun him, but he's making that pretty difficult!'_ Thinking quickly, he infused some grass he ripped out of the ground while dodging with hamon and threw it into the air when the Ursa reared back to strike again. The moment the Grimm came within close proximity to the grass, it was immediately shocked, causing it to recoil backwards and giving Joseph some time to retreat.

' _Alright, let's think for a second'_ The brunette thought the moment he was a safe distance away from the Ursa. _'What kind of brilliant plan could I think up to-HOLY SHIT!'_ However, before the Joestar could plan any further, his train of thought was cut off when Jaune suddenly blindsided the Ursa, jumping in out of nowhere and slashing the Grimm across the face while it was focused on him. Roaring in pain, the Ursa turned it's blood red eyes to Jaune, it's attention now focused on the blonde knight.

' _God DAMN Jaune! Way to steal my thunder!'_ Joseph thought, impressed by the blonde's sudden display of gusto. While at this point, the brunette had more or less expected to Ursa to dispatch Jaune rather quickly, he was surprised to find him holding his own surprisingly well against the monster, blocking and avoiding every strike whenever it came his way. However, more than once the Joestar noticed how the Ursa's strikes just seemed to _gravitate_ away from him whenever he raised his shield against it. It was like the shield was repelling the Grimm for him. However, Joseph decided that he had more pressing matters to at the moment rather than trying to decipher this odd occurrence.

"Forget about ME, asshole!?" And the biggest matter to focus on right now was taking down the currently distracted Ursa.

" **ZOOM PUNCH!"** Wasting no time at all, launched the ripple-extended punch right towards the Ursa's face. Hitting right on the mark, the punch connected with the Grimm's face and sent a powerful shock through the monster's entire body, successfully stunning it.

"Now to make sure you stay niiice and still!" Joseph boasted as he summoned Hermit Purple and wrapped the purple vines around the distracted Ursa's neck. "Now STAY DOWN!" And after mustering up as much strength as he could gather, he gave the vines a powerful heave, causing the Ursa's head to slam onto the ground.

"Alright, the stage is all yours now, Jauney boy!" Joseph called out to Jaune, who knew exactly what the JoJo was implying he should do. Wasting no time, the blonde quickly capitalized on the opening his friend gave him by jumping into the air and sending his sword downwards onto the Ursa's neck. The sword managed to cut through the monster's neck like hot butter and allowed him to decapitate it in one swift strike.

With the matter of the gigantic Ursa now resolved, the two bruised young men looked towards an astonished Cardin, who was still in a sitting position that entire fight. Without uttering a word, Jaune offered his hand for the bulky young man to take, who accepted graciously.

"H-Holy crap! You guys saved my life…!" Cardin uttered, genuine gratitude clear in his voice. However, at this point, Jaune was past the point of forgiveness.

"Never… NEVER… come near me or my friends again. got it!?" Jaune demanded, a cold fury clear in his voice. Shocked by this sudden display, Cardin could only nod his head in response. Considering this acceptable, Jaune turned away from him and began to head back, completely silent all the way, leaving him with Joseph.

"Well, you had the decency to sound grateful, so I'll give ya that." Joseph joked dryly. However, instead of some angry remark, the Joestar was surprised to see Cardin looking towards the leaving Jaune with a look of genuine regret on his face.

"You… actually feel bad about what you did?" Joseph asked slowly, looking at Cardin skeptically.

"How couldn't I? I've been nothing but an asswipe and you both went out of the way to save me." Cardin remarked, annoyance clear in his voice before the guilty look returned to his face. "He's a bigger man than me, that's for sure…" It took Joseph a moment to think of what he should say before responding.

"Look pal, if you honestly feel bad the crap you've put him through, then here's my advice. Just give him some space, and for that matter, you and the rest of your team should stop being such jackasses, got it?" Surprisingly enough, instead of reacting angrily, like he partially expected him to, Cardin's voice still had plenty of regret in it.

"That… seems like a pretty good idea…" **(0)** Upon hearing this, a small smile made it's way onto Joseph's face.

"Welp! Imma be headin back with the others! Try not to get yourself killed while me and Jaune are gone, will ya?" Joseph remarked merrily.

"Yeah… by the way, I picked these up during all the excitement," Cardin began, handing the JoJo his lost clackers. "so, uh, here are your… what are these things supposed to be again? Toys?" He asked, skepticism clear in his voice.

"They're my hamon clackers! Don't go off confusing them with some kid's crappy toys!" Joseph huffed. "But thanks for picking them up for me. Would've been a pain trying to find where I dropped them." Cardin didn't say anything, merely giving a short nod before he went to pick up his mace. As Joseph began to follow Jaune back to the rest of the group after retrieving his clackers, he noticed that both Weiss and Ruby had been watching the unfolding events from the safety of the treeline.

"Enjoyed the show much?" He asked dryly, more than a little annoyed that neither of them bothered to jump in and lend a hand.

"Ahh… sorry about that. We were gonna help out, but Pyrrha told us not to…" Ruby explained weakly, hoping that explanation would suffice.

"Are you freaking kidding me!? If she told you to jump off a goddamn cliff, would you do that too!?" Oh yeah! Two of my friends are fighting for their lives against a bloodthirsty monster, but hold on a minute guys! Let's wait and see how this all plays out! Granted, there was no way in hell the one and only Joseph Joestar would let himself get killed by that Ursa, but still! It's the thought of the matter that counts!

"Sorrrrry… I really was gonna help, honest!" Ruby apologized guilty. Joseph looked as though he had more to say, but only let out a sigh before he responded.

"Eh, forget it. You can both make it up to me by helping me carry all my sap jars back to Beacon." Joseph smirked, realizing that he could probably use some help carrying all the jars of sap he acquired back to the academy,

"Oh joy. Because taking up the job of pack mule is exactly what I wanted to do the entire walk back to the academy." Weiss deadpanned, turning away from them and heading back to the rest of the group. "Find somebody else to carry your stuff."

"Oh, put a sock in it! You got magic powers, don't you? Be creative with them if this annoys you so much!" However, his complaints fell upon deaf ears as Weiss just continued on her way. Joseph could only let out a few annoyed grunts before he began to head back as well.

"Don't worry, I'll help you carry your stuff." Ruby offered, putting a hand on Joseph's shoulder. The Joestar gave a small smile before nodding and continued walking. A peaceful silence ensued for a moment before Ruby spoke up once again.

"Yang told me that you ran off somewhere. I'm guessing to help Jaune, right?" Joseph merely gave a nod in response. "I bet he really appreciates you helping him like that!" Ruby noted as she and Joseph continued walking. However, the brunette could only shrug his shoulders in response, a nonchalant frown on his face.

"Eh… if we're gonna be real, I don't really think I contributed much to that whole fiasco. It probably would've gone the same way with or without me."

* * *

 **(Later that night…)**

In wake of all the events that occurred today, our muscular hero only had one thing on his mind currently.

"Holy shit! Renny, you know how to make some tasty freakin pancakes!"

And that was just how delicious Lie Ren's late night pancakes were. Essentially, after everybody returned from Forever fall, Joseph noticed that Nora kept pestering the green-clad student for some pancakes to eat. Unfortunately for her, it turned out that since she already drank all the tree sap they accumulated during the entire trip, they had nothing but regular maple syrup to make it with, which Nora wouldn't accept. Fortunately for Ren, Joseph revealed that he would've been happy to share the excess amount of sap he had with them as long as he could get in on this action.

"Well, if you hadn't shared some of your sap with us, they would've been far less enjoyable, so we're just as grateful…" Ren noted calmly, wiping his mouth off with his napkin as Nora bounced around the room, the excess amount of sweet tree sap in her system rendering her even more hyper than usual.

"By the way Joseph," Ren added after a moment's thought. "You wouldn't happen to know where Jaune and Pyrrha are, would you? Neither Nora or myself have seen them at all since we came back from Forever Fall." Joseph took a moment to think, which was only accentuated by his slow chewing, before he came up with a response.

"Hell if I know. My guess is that they're probably off sucking face somewhere, if you catch my drift."

"Do you really need to be so crude when you say that?" Ren winced before Nora, still in the throes of her sugar high, suddenly leaped over the table they set up.

"Ohhhh! So you're saying you think Jaune and Pyrrha are together-together?" The ginger haired girl added into the conversation.

"Well, you'd have to be _pretty_ stupid to not notice _something_ going on between those two." Joseph admitted. Quite frankly, it was kind of painfully obvious that Pyrrha had a thing for Jaune. At this point, it was only a matter of time before they hook up or Pyrrha just skipped the pretense and jumped him.

"Anyway, I think it's about time I get some sleep. After all the crap that's happened today, I could sleep for a week straight!" The hot blooded brunette declared once he finished off his last pancake and downed the sweet breakfast meal with a full glass of milk.

"Well, good night. Don't forget to brush before you-"

 _ ***BAM!***_

"REEEEEEN!" Nora yelled happily, who had tackled Ren to the ground out of nowhere.

"Nora, please…" Ren gasped out, his life-long friend's grip crushing him like a vice.

"I hereby decree that we have treesap pancakes every morning for the rest of our lives!"

"Well, I'll just leave you two to your lover's quarrel." Joseph said slyly, heading towards the door.

"Oh! Ren and I aren't together-together JoJo!"

"G'night." And with that, Joseph closed the door to team JNPR's dorm room and began to head back to his.

"Ahh! Home sweet home!" HE sighed as he cracked his neck, leaning back against the door to his room as he did so. "Well, as close to home as I'm gonna get till I get back to New York and grandma."

' _I think I'll just take a shower and head to bed.'_ However, just as Joseph was about to head into the bathroom, he noticed some noise coming from his window. Investigating further, the Joestar looked out the window, trying to find the source of the noise. Upon closer inspection, however, he began to realize that the voices belonged to both Jaune and Pyrrha. Looking upwards, Joseph realized that the two of them were likely having a conversation on the roof.

"HEY! Ya mind keeping it down!?" Joseph scolded playfully, silencing the voices. "The entire damn dormitory can hear you up there and some of us are trying to sleep!" And without giving the voices a chance to respond, he slammed the windows shut before heading for the bathroom, an amused smirk on his face.

"They'll thank me for that one day." He thought, taking off his shirt in the process.

* * *

 **(2)** _'Come now, Erina. A little wine never hurt anybody.' Jonathan reassured his newly wed wife with a pleasant smile on his face. A few months had passed since the blue-haired Joestar's meeting with William Zeppeli, and quite a lot had happened during that time. As it turned out, the Zeppeli family in this universe came from a line of hunters that made it their mission to rid Remnant of abominations created by the stone dagger. To aid them this mission, these hunters infused all of their weapons with a special type of_ **「** **light dust** **」** _that had similar properties to hamon._

 _When William Zeppeli approached Jonathan that day, he revealed that Dio had survived the destruction of the Joestar manor and that he needed Jonathan's assistance to put him down for good. With the desire to stop his former brother from hurting anybody else, the blue-haired Joestar jumped at the offer the eccentric hunter gave him and was taken under his wing._

 _Within the span of a month, Jonathan had mastered Zeppeli's teaching and acquired his own broadsword that he infused with light dust. Once his training was complete, the two of them, along with Speedwagon, set off to find and defeat Dio once and for all._

 _Many things happened during this crusade. The turning point, however, had to have been when Jonathan and William were forced to clash with two legendary hunters, Bruford and Tarkus, who were resurrected by Dio to serve him. The two undead hunters were defeated, but at the cost of Zeppeli's life, and the only silver lining to the entire turn of events being that Jonathan acquired a far more suitable weapon to aid him on his quest. A sword that was given the title Luck And Pluck, handed down to the blue-haired Joestar by Bruford in a moment of clarity before he died once again._

 _At that climax of it all, Jonathan, Speedwagon, and a group of Zeppeli's allies that he contacted before their trip began confronted Dio in a castle he took residence in. While his allies were holding off his undead minions, the Joestar noble personally confronted the psychotic vampire in combat, ending with Jonathan victorious and Dio careening out the balcony of his castle, his body disintegrating all the while._

" _Well, I suppose you're right, Jonathan. It IS our honeymoon, after all." Erina mused to herself, a content smile on her face, before she began to take a few sips out of the wine glass. The gentle blonde winced at the bitterness of the drink for a moment before she swallowed it._

" _I know, I know. It's not exactly the most refreshing beverage there is. It's honestly a taste you have to acquire." Jonathan chuckled, amused at his wife's slightly childish behavior. This entire display brought Joseph's thoughts back to the current situation at hand._

 _With Dio finally defeated, Jonathan found that he could once and for all forget the misery his former brother caused him and finally move on with his life, and the first thing he did in wake of this was tie the knot with Erina, making them newlyweds. Honestly, after seeing first hand how much his grandfather spent his youth suffering, it really made Joseph happy to see Jonathan so content like this. Currently, the two newly weds were on a ship that had it's course set towards Vale, where the two of them were to spend their honeymoon._

 _However, despite all the pleasantries that were going on in Jonathan's life currently, Joseph still couldn't shake this lingering sense of unease he had, and he knew full well why. The muscular brunette was well aware that at this point, this version of Jonathan Joestar and Erina Pendleton weren't the ones that haled from this universe. All the signs pointed towards the idea that these versions of his grandparents were native to Remnant rather than Earth._

 _The reason why this was important was because Joseph had no idea if this version of his grandparent's honeymoon was going to go the same way their Earth equivalent's went. Was something going to happen on this ship? Was this version of Jonathan Joestar destined to die like his Earth equivalent? Or would nothing happen at all, and Jonathan would be able to live out the rest of his natural life peacefully? There was only one way Joseph would know for sure, and this growing sense of anxiousness was beginning to overshadow the happiness he felt for his grandparents._

' _ **God… there really isn't anything worse than waiting for something bad to happen. It's like sitting on a screwy landmine.'**_ _Joseph thought to himself, feeling uneasy all over._

" _Hm…!?"_

 _However, Joseph was brought out of his thoughts when something out of the corner of Jonathan's eye caught his grandfather's attention. Peering out of the entrance to the ship's dining hall was a pale, hunch backed man with chinese-esq clothing and a long mustache. The peculiar man took a moment to smirk at Jonathan before he disappeared behind the entryway._

' _ **That man… that's the man from the curiosity shop…! What's he doing here!?'**_ _Jonathan thought to himself, his entire body tensing at what he just saw. The implications of what he just witnessed weren't clear, but whatever they were, they couldn't have implied anything good._

" _Jonathan, is everything alright?" However, before Jonathan could make any attempt to pursue the man, Erina's voice broke his concentration. Looking over to her, the blue-haired Joestar saw his wife giving him a look of concern, clearly confused by the sudden tension in her husband's posture._

" _I… Erina, listen to me." Jonathan began, grabbing his wife's hand gently. "Something is very wrong here, and I need to find out what… this ship may not be safe, which is why I want you to take this." Jonathan explained quickly before he put something in Erina's hand. When Joseph got a good look at the object, he saw that it was a bright white dust crystal. Unlike most of the dust crystals the brunette had seen so far, this one also had a warm yellow glow coming off it. It honestly kind of reminded Joseph of his own hamon._

 _Considering he had witness his grandfather's training first hand, it was no mystery to Joseph that the object Jonathan gave Erina was in fact a_ **「** **light dust crystal.** **」**

" _If you see any… strange looking individuals try to attack you, then try to hit them with this dust crystal, or throw it at them. It doesn't matter how you do it, as long as a good amount of force hits it, then it'll go off." Jonathan explained quickly. However, when he saw the look of apprehension on his wife's face, he quickly continued. "But don't worry! The explosion won't hurt you at all, it'll just create a surge of sunlight before dissipating."_

" _J..Jonathan, why are you giving me this? What's going on?"_

" _I… I'm sorry Erina, but I can't explain it all right now! I need to go, but I'll be back soon." Jonathan said as he hurried towards the exit where he saw the strange-looking man. However, before he left the dining hall, he gave his wife an urgent look before leaving._

" _Please! Whatever you do, don't follow me! And stay away from anybody who looks suspicious!" And before Erina could make any attempts to protest, Jonathan rushed out the dining hall and after the hunch backed man._

* * *

" _Wait! Stop!" Jonathan called out as he rushed after the hunch-backed man. Rushing into the doorway that he disappearing into, the noble found himself standing on the stairway that led into the ship's engine room. Upon seeing the man apparently fishing something out of what looked to be some kind of coffin, Jonathan jumped down the stairs to confront his target._

" _There's nowhere else to run to. Now tell me! Who are you and why were you watching me!?" Jonathan demanded, causing the man to turn around._

" _You've think I've been running from you?" The man sneered. "You really ARE as stupid as you look. All I've been doing is leading you to my lord." Now that he managed to get a better look at his features, Jonathan could indeed confirm that this was the same man that he and Speedwagon captured the night his life changed forever. However, the Joestar noble's attention wasn't drawn to the man, but rather to the strange looking glass container he was holding, the contents of which causing Jonathan's heart to skip a beat and his blood to run cold._

" _Ah, good, my new body is finally here…" Jonathan could barely believe his eyes, but inside that glass container, a pool of his own coagulated blood around his neck was..._

" _D-DIO!" Jonathan exclaimed, shocked by his mortal enemy's apparent survival. He was almost certain that he managed to finish Dio off that night in the castle! He could still remember him screaming as he flew off the balcony and down to the ground below, his body slowly turning to burning ash as it all happened. How in the world did he manage to survive!?_

" _Jonathan… brother… before anything else happens, I want you to take a good look at me… and understand." Dio began, looking at the shocked Jonathan with an unreadable expression in his eyes. "My current state is the reason why I come before you like this. After your final attack, I was forced to sever my head from the rest of my body to avoid my demise. THAT is why I come to you looking like this." Dio's head continued, the implications of his intentions finally becoming clear and petrifying Jonathan._

" _JoJo… the reason why I, Dio, show you my weakness like this is because although I once despised you, I've now grown to truly respect you. I respect your courage, your spirit, and your power. I realize that now."_

" _Dio…" Jonathan growled, backing away from the vampire and his zombie servant._

" _JoJo…" Dio said, his gaze never once leaving Jonathan. "If it weren't for you, I never would've obtained the stone dagger's power. I was given the opportunity to seize the entire world… but because of you, that chance has also slipped from my grasp."_

" _If there is some kind of god, then I've realized that he's bound our fates tightly together. And because of that, I've also realized our two existences are really one."_

" _D...Dio… what are you trying to say…?" Jonathan asked quietly, hoping to god that the deranged monster in front of him truly wasn't implying what he thought he was._

" _You know full well what I'm trying to tell you JoJo. Because of your actions, I've realized that there really is only one body that's capable of carrying my will now…" Dio responded icily, the gaze in his eyes turning predatory._

" _And that body is yours."_

" _ **...He's going to… take over his body!? That sick bastard!"**_ _Joseph thought as he watched this all play out. He was outraged that despite apparently being the only person he truly expected, Dio still intended to take everything away from Jonathan._

" _However… I can promise that you won't feel a thing! A painless death is my final gift to you JoJo!" Dio yelled out, his pupils turning into slits, causing both Joseph's and Jonathan's hearts to skip a few beats._

" _H...His eyes! NO!" Jonathan yelled out, unable to do anything but back away from Dio._

" _ **Come on grandad! Dodge out of the way! Block it with Hamon, DO SOMETHING!"**_ _Joseph yelled, praying to god this wasn't going to end the way he thought it would._

" _Live on as my body,_ _ **JOJO!**_ _" Dio screamed, ready to fire his eye beams. Unable to think rationally, Jonathan did the only thing that he could think of doing, and that was to put his arms up to block._

 _ ***PWEM***_

 _Unfortunately, it all proved to be a useless gesture as the substance that came shooting out of Dio's eyes easily pierced through Jonathan's arms before piercing his next._

" _ **GRCK…!**_ _Eri… na!' Jonathan choked out before the force from the blow sent him careening into a wooden support behind him. With his strength rapidly leaving him and an excruciating burning in his neck, the muscular bluenet could only slump down to the floor, as helpless as a newborn._

" _ **GRANDPA!"**_

" _JONATHAN!"_

" _Such a pity, JoJo," Dio began, a triumphant smirk on his face as his remaining zombie servant, Wang Chan, carried the container he was in closer to the incapacitated Jonathan. "If you had just stayed still and hadn't put up any resistance, then I could've guaranteed you a painless death. Now then, Wang Chan, finish him off, and make sure it's quick." Dio ordered his servant, who merely gave a gleeful cackle in reply before he began to approach Jonathan with his claws barred._

" _Kukuku!" The mustachioed zombie cackled, his serpentine tongue rolling out of his mouth in the process. "You're not so tough without your fancy weapons! Are you?" He taunted as he continued to approach Jonathan, who in spite of his best efforts, couldn't find the strength to move._

" _Enough Wang Chan!" Dio barked harshly, surprising his servant. "Do not belittle JoJo like this. He is the reason I, Dio, am in this current state, that alone should be enough to warrant your respect and caution. I want this to be done both quickly and painlessly,_ _ **understood?**_ _" Dio demanded, his voice demanding nothing but absolute obedience._

" _I… of course lord Dio…" Wang Chan muttered, momentarily surprised before he continued his advance._

' _ **Damn it! I knew I should've brought Bruford's sword…! This pain is too much… I can hardly move!'**_ _Despite all his attempts to stand back up_ , _Jonathan just couldn't bring himself to do it, and merely slumped back against the wooden support once more. With nothing else he could do, and no way to defend himself effectively, the Joestar noble was just about ready to resign himself to his fate._

" _DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HIM!"_

 _However, before the zombie could close the distance between them, every active party was surprised when a fourth person entered the fray and landed in front of Jonathan._

" _You… aren't you…?" Dio murmured, mildly surprised by what he was looking at, for the person now standing between him and his new body was-_

" _E...Erina…!"_

 _None other than Jonathan's newly wed wife, who was now glaring at Dio's head with determination clear in her eyes._

" _Well, I can't quite say I ever expected to see you again, Ms. Pendleton. Or would it be Mrs. Joestar now?" Dio said, a fake smile on his face as he looked at Erina. "So, did JoJo ever tell you about me? The one who stalks the night? The monster that makes both the creatures of Grimm and their master cower before me…?"_

 _Erina didn't know what to make of this situation or Dio's boastful words, so she merely gritted her teeth before speaking up, her voice steeled. "Dio… I'm not sure what you've become, or why you're trying to kill Jonathan, but what I am sure of is that I won't allow you to harm my husband!"_

" _Oh really? You think that you alone can save JoJo from his fate? Don't be ridiculous, you foolish girl," Dio taunted, his eyes narrowing. "I wish to cause JoJo as little pain as possible, so if you truly care for your husband, then you'll spare him the agony of having to watch you die. Now stand aside before my patience runs thin…"_

" _Don't underestimate me,_ _ **monster,**_ _" Erina said darkly, beginning to unravel an object she had wrapped up in cloth in her left hand. "Because I made sure not to come here defenseless."_

" _That's…!"_

" _!...No! Erina…! Run…!" Jonathan choked out, trying in vain to stop his wife from doing something suicidally stupid._

" _All it takes is the right amount of force to make this crystal blow up in your faces!" Erina yelled, ready to slam the light dust crystal onto the ground if Dio or Wang Chan made any sudden moves. "Either leave me and Jonathan alone, or I WILL kill you both! You said that you stalk the night… so I can only assume you hate sunlight!"_

" _You…" Dio began, a cold fury lacing his voice. "Put that down_ _ **right now,**_ _or I WILL kill you…" He wasn't going to stand for this. The chance to live the rest of his immortality in pure beauty was but a few feet away from him, and this_ _ **whore**_ _thought he could take that away from him? No, it doesn't matter if she was JoJo's wife, Dio wasn't going to take any more chances._

" _You've done nothing but make Jonathan miserable since the day you met him, and now you want to kill him? I WON'T ALLO-"_

 _ ***PWEM***_

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _ **ゴ**_

 _ **ゴ**_

 _ **ゴ**_

 _ **ゴ**_

 _For a moment, aside from the rhythmic sound of the engine's gears at work, the entire engine room was quite. Dio just opted to let what happened sink in for both Jonathan and Erina while Wang Chan just had a sadistic smirk on his face. Jonathan, however, was just frozen in shock, his mind unable to comprehend what Dio just did._

 _ ***Drip…***_

 _ ***Drip…***_

 _After a moment, however, the sound of blood gently falling onto the wooden floor broke the tense silence. However, this blood was not coming from the wounds on Jonathan's neck and arms, instead, they were coming from the_ _ **「**_ _ **two coin-sized holes in Erina's chest.**_ _ **」**_ _Yes, while she had been making her speech, Dio, not wanting to take any chances, simply opted to blast the newlywed with his fluid beams while she was talking. Now that the wound finally registered itself to Erina, her entire body fell limp to the floor, the light dust crystal she had in her hand clattering away as she fell._

" _N...No…" Jonathan choked out, tears beginning to well around his eyes._

" _You wasted your chance,_ _ **brat.**_ _You should've acted the moment you had the chance instead of getting caught up in some self-righteous rant._ _ **Now waste away.**_ _"_

" _Er..ina…! ERINNNAAAAAA!"_

 _ **-To be continued...**_

* * *

 **(0) Hey, as long as Cardin doesn't go out of his way to be a jackass in volume 4, I'm perfectly fine with treating him and his team fairly. He at least had the decency to be grateful and guilty after Jaune saved him.**

 **(1) Yeah… the first omake is actually kinda canon… IN BROAD STROKES, as they say.**

 **(2) I understand it's kind of a weak move to just skip to the end of Phantom Blood, but I really didn't want to retread that entire arc, but with a few minor differences to show that it's in Remnant. Seemed kinda redundant in my opinion. Buuut who knows? Maybe after I get to a good stopping point in the main story, that would be a neat little side story I could write about for all of you...**

 **Yup, so there you have it. More than a month of fucking waiting for a goddamn chapter that focuses on the shitty filler episode, making this chapter shitty in it's own right!... I'm so sorry everyone:( I swear to you all that the next chapter will be better, I PROMISE YOU ALL THIS!**

 **So… uhhh… in wake of what happened during the Volume 3 finale, I realize that I'm definitely gonna have to think long and hard about the future story format, just so I don't fuck everything up royally. Sooo… wish me luck in that department.**

 **Welp, later.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hey there! Finally got the chance to read through JoJolion lately, and I gotta say, it's pretty sweet. That being said, I can't help but feel that this part, out of all the others, would benefit heavily from being in color. Without it, all of Morioh just seems… wrong and lifeless, and I don't think Araki was going for a Silent Hill-esq atmosphere while writing this part. Well, in any case, on with the story! Also, sorry once again for the wait, I was doing some revising for my Resident Evil and Parasite Eve crossover, and I also did some proofreading for a fellow author's RWBY and Devil May Cry crossover. CROSSOVERS! CROSSOVERS EVERYWHERE!**

 **Also, I'm actually a bit surprised that I managed to get this uploaded for Duwang day. Didn't think I was gonna beat the rush ._.**

 **Disclaimer: lolrus555 owns neither JoJo's Bizarre Adventure nor RWBY. They belong to Hirohiko Araki and Rooster Teeth, respectively.**

 **Joseph Joestar: Hamon Hunter**

' _ **This isn't happening…! Please god, tell me this isn't happening!'**_ _Jonathan thought frantically as he feebly reached for Erina's slumped over body, tears of despair and horror running down his face. As the noble continued his futile effort to reach his dying wife, he couldn't help but ask himself what he did to deserve all this. What kind of sin did he perform in a past life that would lead to such a horrible string of events? And most importantly, why did his dear wife have to be dragged down along with him? For the longest time, Jonathan Joestar did his best to stay strong ever since Dio came into his life, but now, he couldn't bring himself to do so anymore. All he could do now was curse this miserable existence and all the misery that came along with it._

" _Such a touching sight. Even when they're both nearing death, the loving couple still longs to be together." Came Dio's taunting voice. Suddenly, Wang Chan dropped right in between Jonathan and Erina before the ghoulish zombie carelessly kicked the mortally wounded woman away with the back of his foot, eliciting a weak moan from her._

" _If only I didn't find such a display from you so nauseating,_ _ **JoJo.**_ _" If one payed close attention to Dio's voice just then, then they likely would've noticed the cold envy in his voice. However, Jonathan was too distracted by something out of the corner of his eye to notice. Something that replaced his despair with shock and confusion._

' _ **E...Erina…? She's… still moving?'**_ _True to his word, out of the corner of his eye, Jonathan bore witness to Erina still moving after being kicked away by Wang Chan. From what he could see, she seemed to be slowly crawling towards the main engine of the ship, but more specifically, towards the tool box that was full of_ _ **「**_ _ **dust crystals**_ _ **」**_ _to power the ship._ _It took the noble another moment before he realized what she was trying to accomplish._

' _ **She's… she's going to throw those dust crystals in the gears of the engine, causing an explosion! With nowhere to hide when the sun rises, Dio at least won't be able to harm anyone else…!'**_ _Jonathan realized, watching as his wife continued to crawl towards the crystal-filled toolbox, both Dio and Wang-chan completely unaware of what she was trying to do._

" _But this little show has gone on for long enough. WANG CHAN! FINISH HIM OFF! AND MAKE IT CLEAN!" Dio commanded, eager to finally claim his new body. In response, his servant made sure to put his container on the floor before following his command._

" _OF COURSE LORD DIO~!" The ghoulish man screamed gleefully as he lunged towards Jonathan, his claws barred. Mustering up strength he didn't realize he still had, the Joestar noble grabbed onto Wang-Chan's wrists just as his claws were about to pierce his throat, initiating a struggle of strength between the two._

' _I… I need to hold out… just for a bit longer…!' Jonathan thought as he struggled to prevent the mad ghoul's claws from piercing his neck. Despite his depleting strength and critical condition, however, he was somehow able to hold him at bay._

" _RARGH! You impudent little brat! Stop struggling and die already!" The insane zombie screamed, his voice hysterical and furious. Jonathan's response, however, was to wind back both his legs and launch them into his gut, knocking the air out of him and sending him sprawling backwards._

" _You little…! YOU ROTTEN LITTLE-!? W-WHAT!? WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE-"_

 _ ***BWOOM***_

" _WHAAAT!?" Dio screamed out in shock as a plume of fire sent himself and Jonathan flying and incinerated a screaming Wang Chan. When Jonathan hit the ground with a harsh thud, the first thing he did was look around the now burning engine room, trying to find any trace of Erina._

" _Erina… Where… Where are you?" Jonathan called out weakly, flipping himself onto his stomach. He knew this was going to be the end, that the flame of his life was going to be extinguished tonight no matter what he did now, but at the very least, he still wanted to see the woman he loved one last time before he died._

 ***WRAAAP***

 _However, Jonathan didn't have much time to search the room before he received a nasty interruption._

" _HRK-ACK!" Jonathan gagged when something very cold and slimy suddenly wrapped around his neck tightly, dragging him away. With one firm tug, he was slammed against a wooden box and given a clear look at the one responsible for this. It would seem that unlike Wang Chan, Dio managed to survive the initial explosion of the main engine, because he now had several tentacles growing out of his neck stump and strangling him._

" _This really has turned into a gigantic mess, hasn't it JoJo!?" Dio yelled as his tentacles strangled Jonathan further, beginning to rupture the skin it was wrapped around. "Thanks to that explosion, the ship only has a few more moments before everything in it goes up in flames. But I thankfully came prepared! The coffin I snuck into the ship with is durable enough to easily withstand the ship's explosion. All that's required now is that I make your body mine and lock myself within my velvet boudoir!" He continued, a triumphant smirk on his face now that he knew his victory was close at hand._

 _ ***BOOM***_

" _HERE I COME, JOJO!" And as Dio screamed this out, he used the momentum from an explosion behind him to rocket himself towards the seemingly incapacitated Jonathan. "AND PREPARE YOURSELF FOR IMMORTALITY, MY NEW ETERNAL BODY!"_

 _ ***STAB***_

 _However, so caught up in his victory, Dio was unable to notice or avoid a sharp piece of shrapnel Jonathan quickly pulled out of his back and used to stab him in the jugular with until it was too late._

" _HRG!" Dio grunted in shock, unable to move. The pain shooting through what little of a body he had was too great, and rendered vampire completely immobile. Now that he finally managed to stop him, Jonathan let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding before he began to slump against the box, his fatigue and blood loss finally beginning to catch up with him._

" _Dio…" Jonathan whispered hoarsely, using the last of his strength to wrap Dio's head in a warm embrace. "It would appear you were correct when you stated that fate had intertwined our paths together. Now, just as we spent most of our lives together, they will both end on this ship…"_

" _It's funny, really… after everything you've done to me… after you've taken my happiness, my loved ones, and now my life from me… I should truly hate you…_ _ **and a part of me really does.**_ _" Jonathan explained quietly, tightening his grip on Dio ever so slightly, who was stunned into silence by what he was hearing._

" _A part of me genuinely wants to spend my dying breath cursing you for everything you've done… but at the same time, I understand now that you've likely never known any true love in your life… which is why… I choose to spend these final moments embracing you… showing genuine care and love…" As the dying noble said this, his glazed over eyes began to drift over to Erina's body, which he was now able to see amid the fire and smoke. Quite honestly, if Jonathan hadn't known any better, then he truly would've assumed that his wife was merely knocked unconscious from this angle. However, the blood that was pooling around her body confirmed that Erina Pendleton Joestar was indeed dead, and that he and Dio would soon be joining her._

" _I'll… see you soon… my beloved…" The dying Joestar whispered sadly, giving his wife's limp form one last look before an explosion of fire obscured her from his view. Soon after this, Jonathan's, and by extension Joseph's, view of the world began to steadily darken with each passing second, and along with it, the crackling of the fires began to fade away as well. However, just as he was consumed entirely, he heard Dio's voice pierce through the darkness._

" _JoJo, LET ME GO! THINK ABOUT THIS FOR A MOMENT, YOU'D LIKE A CHANCE TO LIVE FOREVER, WOULDN'T YOU!? I CAN HEAL YOUR WOUNDS, I CAN REVIVE ERINA FOR YOU AS WELL! JUST RELEASE ME, JOJO!"_

 _._

 _._

 _._

" _J-JoJo!?"_

" _No… I-It can't be…!"_

" _...He's dead."_

 **[Jonathan Joestar]**

 **[Died: Twenty years before the great war of Remnant]**

 **[RETIRE]**

* * *

"...so, that's how Jonathan Joestar's saga ends, does it…?" Joseph thought aloud, his voice emotionless as he stared at the ceiling of his room.

"After everything he went through, he still couldn't get his happy ending… hell, he couldn't even save this version of my grandma…" It took the brunette a moment before he noticed the tears that were running down his face.

"Rrgh!" He groaned, wiping the tears from his eyes furiously. "Fuck it! I can't be bothered to move right now!" He didn't care if he had classes today, he was feeling far too emotionally drained to get out of bed right now. All Joseph wanted to do today was lay in bed and try and make sense of the story he'd been forced to witness.

* * *

"Remind me again why we're spending our friday afternoon visiting the stupid docks?" Yang spoke up when she and the rest of her team made it to the titular Vale docks. For some reason, while they had gone down to the Vale shopping district after classes were finished today, Weiss had really been insistent that they stop by the docks. Why a prissy heiress like Weiss was interested in heading down to a place that perpetually smelled like sea salt and rotten fish was beyond the busty blonde, but hopefully, none of the team would be here long enough for it to matter.

"Ugh… it smells like rotten fish down here." Ruby groaned, pinching her nose and summing up in Yang's mind why coming down here was a real _fishy_ idea.

Oh man! She needed to write that one down when she got the chance!

"I heard that students visiting from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today." Weiss explained, looking towards one of the docked ships with an expression of uncharacteristic enthusiasm on her face. And, as a _representative_ of Beacon, I feel as though it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this wonderful kingdom!"

"She wants to spy on them so she'll have the upper hand in the tournament." Blake stated simply, a matter-of-fact tone in her voice.

"You can't prove that!" Weiss rebuffed immediately. However, before this conversation could continue, Ruby's voice caught the team's attention.

"What do you guys think happened there?" She asked her teammates, heading towards the ransacked store that caught her attention, the rest of her team following after her. The police had already put a perimeter up and the officers were already investigating the wreckage of the store, but from what they could see, the scene in front of them appeared to be the consequence of some kind of vandalism.

"What happened here?" Ruby asked as she walked up to a detective working behind the police line, who was busy writing something down on his scroll's notepad.

"Robbery." The man explained, not looking up from his scroll. "Second dust shop to be hit this week. This place is turning into a freakin' jungle."

"That's terrible…" Yang said sadly, causing Ruby to place a hand on her shoulder in reassurance. The four of them were about to head back to the docks before Weiss heard one of the detectives mentioning the White Fang as one of the most likely culprits, which caused her face to gain a look of disdain.

"Hmph! The White Fang! What an awful bunch of degenerates." She scoffed, unaware of the annoyed look on Blake's face upon hearing her dismissive tone.

"What's _your_ problem?"

" _My_ problem? I simply don't care for the criminally insane." Weiss rebutted, crossing her arms.

"The white Fang are hardly a bunch of psychopaths!" Blake responded, narrowing her eyes at the heiress. "They're just a collection of misguided faunus."

" _Misguided!?"_ Weiss repeated incredulously. _"_ They want to wipe humanity off the face of the planet!"

"Alright, then they're _**really**_ misguided! That doesn't mean they all consist of criminals and thugs!" Blake argued, raising her voice. "Besides, regardless of what you think, none of that explains, or even proves, that they would rob a dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale."

"Blake does have a point, actually." Ruby butted in suddenly before Weiss could respond. "Maybe it's that Torchwick guy I ran into a few months ago. The police never did manage to catch him."

"That still doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum!" Weiss rebutted, making it clear that Ruby's subtle attempt to change the subject didn't work. "Those faunus only know how to lie, cheat, and steal." She continued, unaware, or perhaps just ignoring, the cold glare Blake was giving her.

"C'mon Weiss, that's not necessarily true." Yang began, trying to defuse the situation before it got out of hand. But before she could continue, the sound of commotion back on the dock caught her and the rest of the team's attention.

"Hey! Someone stop that faunus!"

Heading back to the top of the shipyard, the four girls bore witness to a appeared to be a blonde haired stowaway clad in white making his exit.

"HAHA! Thanks for the ride, fellas! Give my regards to captain Tennile, wouldja?" The blonde yelled happily, clearly not worried about the idea of getting caught by the sailors. And before either of the two men could even attempt to catch him, he leaped off the ship and used his _**monkey tail**_ to hang onto one of the nearby lampposts.

"Oh, and tell the doc I said hi too!" The monkey faunus added in after a moment's thought, peeling a banana as he said this. However, before he could enjoy his vitamin D rich treat, a stone that nearly collided with his head diverted his attention. Looking in front of him, the faunus saw a pair of bemused detectives looking right at him.

"Hey! You get down from there right now!" The detective demanded, only to get a response in the form of a banana peel to the face. Growling, the man threw the peel off his face and was prepared to teach the stowaway a lesson in manners, but before he could, said stowaway already made it up the stairs that led onto the street and was well on his way out of the crime scene, but not before giving Blake a flirty wink as he passed by team RWBY.

"Well Weiss, you wanted to observe the competition, and there it goes." Yang remarked flippantly, admittedly interested by this sudden turn of events.

"Quick! We have to observe him!"

"Wait! Sir, the boat hasn't properly been docked yet, you can't just-" However, before they could follow after the monkey faunus and his pursuers, the sound of an argument back on the ship caught the team's attention. From what they could see, somebody dressed up in green seemed to be having a disagreement with the sailors who chased the monkey faunus off the ship.

"Do you really think I care? I have better things to be doing with my time then waiting for you incompetent fools to properly anchor the ship. Now out of my way." The man said harshly, a cold tone in his voice.

"Sir, please! We can't have anybody-"

"I said _**move.**_ " He growled, pushing the crewman out of the way and almost off the ship, the callous act shocking the observing Team RWBY. Paying the upset sailors no heed, the green-clad man simply jumped off the ship and landed on the docks, the action itself being done with no hesitation on his part, indicating some kind of past combat experience or aura control, before he began to head to the stairs leading to the streets.

"Geeze… what's his problem?" Ruby said, shocked at the callous action she just witnessed. "Guess he isn't looking to make many friends while he's here."

"That's one obvious thing about him. That and the fact that he's a humongous jerk." Yang noted, abhorred by the fellow blonde's behavior. It was at this point that the focus of Team RWBY's attention made it up the stairs and onto the railing, giving the four of them a good look at him.

Now that they could get a clear look on him, it was revealed that this person was wearing a tightly-fit green sweater with a diagonal grid on it. This sweater was complemented by a pair of dark brown working gloves that extended to his forearms loosely. On his legs were a pair of baggy beige pants along with a set of dark brown riding boots. This entire ensemble was topped off by a bright green cap on his head that had the word _**'DIO'**_ fitted onto it via three golden pins.

As for his features, it was all too clear to see that this young man was very handsome. He had a set of very sharp chiseled features that were all complimented by his shoulder-length blonde hair and a pair of bold, cyan eyes.

However, the feature that caught their attention most of all had to have been his 5-feet long reptilian tail. The extra extremity was a lively shade of bright blue and had a pattern of orange stripes on it that somehow spelled out _**'DIO'**_ repeatedly. This tail made it all too clear that this blonde young man was a reptilian faunus, something that no member of Team RWBY had ever seen before.

"And just what the hell are you four looking at?" The blonde faunus demanded suddenly, drawing the team out of their stupor. Now that he caught their attention, the four of them could see that the green-clad faunus was looking at all of them with a cold glare. Initially taken aback, the four members of the team soon returned the glare right back at him.

"Just how much of a gigantic jerk you were being to that guy on the ship." Ruby said, mustering up her guts and putting on a tough girl facade, although her attempted display of bravado only got a quirked eyebrow out of the blonde faunus.

"Oh? Did you now? And just what's it to you? I don't exactly see how it's the problem of you or any of your friends." The blonde responded callously, unfazed by Ruby calling him out on his actions, much to her chagrin.

"What do you mean what's it to us!? Why would you something like that to anybody!? It doesn't matter if it concerns us or not, either, displays like that give faunus everywhere a bad name!" Blake cut in heatedly.

"Oh, well I guess that changes everything for me, now doesn't it?" The faunus said dryly. "You and your pals say this like I give a damn about what you or anybody else thinks of my actions. But the matter of fact is, _**I don't.**_ And I certainly couldn't care less your pointless complaints." The faunus looked as though he had more to say, but before he could, Yang cut into the conversation, glaring right at him

"I'm really starting to hate the tone of voice you're taking with my teammates, buddy." The brawler stated sharply. "So why don't you do everybody present a favor, and _**start minding you're manners.**_ "

"You think I'm scared of a bimbo like you, girly?" The faunus challenged, returning Yang's glare with full force. "You might think you're hot shit thanks to those weapons you have, but all I see right now is someone that's just _full_ of hot ai _ **-SNIFF. SNIFF. SNIFF."**_ However, anything else the young man was going to say died in his throat when an odd scent suddenly reached his nostrils. Forgetting any pretense of hostility, he let his instincts take over and began to sniff around the area, leaving the girls speechless.

"...What in the hell is this degenerate doing?" Weiss managed to ask once she regained her voice. However, her question went unanswered as her other teammates just continued to watch in bafflement as the blonde faunus continued to look around, sniffing all the while. After another moment, however, he began to sniff in Blake's direction, apparently having smelled something important on her.

"Wh-What are you doing!?" Blake asked, her voice shocked and frantic when the guy began to sniff around her head. Interpreting this as hostile, the rest of the team subtly began to ready their weapons if the faunus tried anything funny. However, the blonde faunus surprised all of them when he began _**laughing,**_ or all things. What started out as some muted giggling turned into full blown laughter, with the entirety of Team RWBY completely clueless as to what set him off.

"Well, isn't _**「**_ _ **THAT**_ _ **」**_ a surprise!" The man managed between chuckles, smirking at Blake. "I wonder if any of your friends noticed? Seems pretty obvious in retrospect."

"Noticed what?" Ruby asked, growing more confused by the blonde faunus by the minute.

"Nothing, forget it." The man chuckled, his knowing smirk never leaving his face. "I'm sorry about my rude behavior, truly, it's just that being stuck at sea for as long as I've been can leave you a little stir-crazy."

"That so? Guess sea travel isn't for everyone… like how some people aren't to air travel either." Yang noted, unaware that she had been a bit skittish on her feet when she said this.

"In any case, let's just forget that bout of unpleasantness, shall we? Even if you don't like me, Vale is a big city, so this'll probably be the last time you run into me." The blonde assured them when it seemed clear that the four of them didn't find his apology sincere. With nothing else to say to the three of team RWBY's members, he began to walk away, but not before saying something to Blake as he passed by her.

"By the way, good luck in keeping your little secret, _**「**_ _ **kitten.**_ _ **」**_ " The man chuckled, an illusive smile on his face, and upon getting a good look at the combined look of shock and horror on Blake's face, the reptilian faunus quickly made his exit before anyone could question him.

"Guh! What a weirdo!" Yang said, annoyance clear in her voice as the reptilian faunus disappeared further down the street. "What was up with the way he was acting, anyway? Don't think I've ever seen anybody go from asshole to overly friendly as quickly as he did."

"Yeah, that was really weird… by the way, Blake. What was he talking about when he mentioned something about a secret?... Blake?" Ruby asked, looking over to her yellow-eyed teammate when she wouldn't respond. However, upon turning to her, she was surprised to find Blake frozen with a look of shock and slight fear on her face, concerning the silver-eyed girl greatly. Whatever that faunus was talking about must've really hit home with her, even if it was just confusing for the rest of the girls.

"Are you alright Blake? You looked rather shocked when that degenerate started sniffing you." Weiss asked, putting a hand on her teammate's shoulder in concern.

"I...I'm fine…" Blake managed, too shocked by what the reptilian faunus called her to be offended by Weiss's bigotry.

"That's a relief." Weiss smiled before she decided to get back to the topic that had been at hand. "In any case, let's see if we can't find that stowaway from before!" The heiress declared heatedly before she sprinted off in search of the previously forgotten monkey-tailed faunus.

"Didn't realize Weiss had such a one-track mindset." Yang said with an amused smile before following after her white-haired teammate, both Blake and Ruby in tow.

* * *

"Weiss, I hate to be the bearer of bad news and everything, but I don't think we're gonna find him." Ruby explained meekly when she and the rest of the team caught up to the heiress, who was now looking around the area for any sign of the stowaway.

"Why exactly are you so interested in "observing" this guy, anyway? This all seems like a lot of wasted effort." Blake added in skeptically, having snapped out of the stupor the reptilian faunus had placed her in.

"Why!? I simply thought this would be a perfect opportunity to get to know some of the exchange students we'll likely be interacting with till the Vytal festival tournament. Is that really so wrong?" Weiss retorted with a huff, crossing her arms as she looked at the two of them.

"'Get to know them,' Riiiight... THAT'S why you're so eager to talk to some 'faunus riff raff…'" Blake said dryly, still convinced that the heiress was just using this all as a convenient excuse to learn more about her opponents for the tournament.

"Just what are you trying to insinuate?" Weiss asked icily, glaring at Blake, who was unfazed by the ice-cold stare and returned it with one of her own.

"Hey guys? You might wanna cut this little lovers' quarrel of yours short. We got some company." Yang spoke up, drawing the two girls out of their staredown and towards what caught the busty blonde's attention, which just so happened to be Joseph Joestar, who was standing near the entrance to an alley further down the street, apparently waiting for someone.

"That's weird. I thought JoJo said he wasn't feeling well today." Ruby said, not expecting to run into the Joestar in Vale. Before classes began today, Joseph had requested that she let the first teacher she ran into know that he had been feeling under the weather and couldn't attend classes today. A statement that had now been proven false by his presence in Vale, looking no worse for wear, albeit slightly annoyed.

"Well, regardless of what's true or not, we're quite lucky that he's here. He should be able to tell us if he's seen that faunus anywhere nearby." Weiss noted before heading up to the unaware Joseph. "Joseph! Quick! Have you seen any sign of a monkey-tailed rapscallion nearby?"

"Hm?" Joseph perked up, having just noticed Weiss's presence. "You're looking for a monkey-man or something? Yeah, I think I saw someone like that down here, but he was doin' some crazy-building jumping stuff to get away from these two guys, so you're probably not gonna find him."

"Blast!" Weiss groaned, annoyed that they lost their target. "Well, there's always next time, I suppose."

"Hey hey! I didn't realize the entire gang was here!" Joseph said, greeting the entirety of Team RWBY. "You guys come down here to do some sight-seeing too?"

"Not really, Weiss just dragged us down here so she could spy on any potential competitors for the tournament." Blake said, she and the rest of the team heading up to greet the Joestar.

"I told you already that's not what I'm here for!"

"Oh yeah, that big tournament thing is coming up in a few months. You guys are entering it?" Joseph asked, ignoring Weiss's angry denial as he leaned back against the wall.

"Of course we are! Aren't you entering, JoJo?" Ruby asked cheerily, subtly hoping that a fifth person to talk to would ease the growing tension between Weiss and Blake.

"Me? Hell no! I'm not gonna waste more of my time fighting if I don't have to!" "Besides, with the weird set-up I got going on between you guys and Jaune's crew, it'd be more trouble than it's worth."

"Oh… Yeah, I guess that would be a problem…" Ruby deflated, a little disappointed that one of her friends wouldn't be entering the tournament.

"Say, what are you doing out here anyway?" Yang asked, curious as to why Joseph was just sitting around the outside of some alley like this. "You waiting for somebody or something?"

"Pretty much." Joseph answered, looking down the alley for any sign of his friend. "She just went down there to get her hat. It's been so drafty today that it kinda just flew off her. Still, she's been down there for awhile."

"...are you sure it was a good idea to just let that person go like that? Y'know, into a creepy, dark alley? By herself?" Blake questioned, peering into the alley for any sign of this person.

"I wouldn't be too worried about her, Blake. If you met her the way I did, then you'd know she's perfectly _**「**_ _ **combat ready.**_ _ **」"**_ Joseph reassured, putting an odd amount of emphasis on that final praise.

"Combat ready? What, is she a Beacon student or something?" Yang asked, growing more curious by the minute.

"Uh… not-"

"Wonderful! My retrieval is now successful!" Came an ecstatic, yet slightly monotone voice further down the alley.

"...exactly..." Joseph finished, looking into the alley and watching as she person who was further inside it came out of the darkness that pervaded the area. Once this figure stepped into the daylight, all of Team RWBY was able to see that Joseph's new acquaintance was actually a petite looking orange-haired girl. The girl had a set of bright green eyes that complimented her current outfit quite well, which was actually quite notable. Essentially, the girl was clad in a grey and white suit that's overcoat went down to her knees along with a bright green waist coat. Topping all this off was a dark red bow-tie that complimented her checkered top-hat remarkably well. **(1)**

"Ah! Sal-U-Tations! Are you four also JoJo's buddies?" The girl asked cheerfully upon noticing the members of Team RWBY.

"Yes we are, but… uh, who're you?" Ruby asked, looking at the orange haired girl curiously.

"My name is Penny! It's a pleasure to meet you all!" The girl, now dubbed Penny, introduced herself cheerily, oblivious to the confused stares the girls were giving her. Seeing that it would take too long to respond, Joseph spoke up.

"The girl in black and red is Ruby, the hoighty toighty lookin' one is Weiss, the broody lookin' one is Blake, and the blonde is Yang." The Joestar summed up curtly, gesturing towards them with a shrug of his head as he did so.

"Nice to meet you!"

"A pleasure."

"Hey…"

"Did she hit her head on something while she was in that alley?"

 ***BAM***

"Oh! Uh, I mean, nice to meetcha." The blonde corrected herself quickly, although Penny did seem to notice her initial choice of words.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all!" Penny said happily. "You already said that." Weiss noted, looking at the peculiar girl with a questioning look on her face.

"...so I did!" The girl exclaimed cheerfully after a moment's thought. At this point, Yang decided that she was more or less done with dancing around this issue and looked toward Joseph with a questioning look on her face before speaking up.

"So how exactly did you two meet? Was it recently, orrr…?" The blonde questioned, causing Joseph to bite his lip in contemplation for a moment before speaking up.

"That's bit of an interesting story, actually. Essentially…"

* * *

 **(Flashback. Earlier today.)**

" _Yeah, this was exactly what I needed. Just a day to kick back and relax~." Joseph sighed happily before taking another chug out of his cup of hot coke. Deciding that he needed to just spend the day relaxing and taking his mind off more_ _ **「**_ _ **stressful matters,**_ _ **」**_ _the Joestar simply opted to skip classes for the day and go sightseeing around Vale. It had only been a few weeks since he'd arrived in Remnant and he still hadn't seen everything the city had to offer, and today, he ended up striking gold._

" _Urgh… how in the hell can people stomach this stuff hot!?" Joseph complained once he swallowed the warm liquid, grimacing at it's hot and bubbly taste._

 _Well, more like bronze._

 _Yes, during his walk around Vale, Joseph ended up happening upon a vendor who was selling cups of Coca-cola! Unfortunately, the goddamn savage opted to sully the wonderful beverage by heating it up, and he wasn't even selling some refreshingly cold alternatives either! That being said, it had been more than a month since the Joestar had a taste of the beverage he'd become oddly enamored with, and beggars couldn't exactly be choosers, now could they? Besides, at least Joseph knew that there was indeed Coca-cola in Remnant, now he just needed to find someone that'd be willing to sell it to him cold instead of hot._

" _Maybe I'll stop by Rohan's and see how his comic is coming along now…" He mused to himself, entertaining the thought of visiting his eccentric… acquaintance. Honestly, Joseph wasn't quite sure if he could call the man his friend just yet. Nearly getting killed thanks to that acquaintance's fanatical obsession does that to a friendship._

" _So I'm guessing a visage of beauty and orderly perfection such as yourself comes from Atlas, am I right my dear?"_

 _However, before Joseph could ponder this further, the sound of someone speaking further down the street caught his attention. Looking towards the source of this voice, he noticed a guy that matched his description of a womanizing dirtbag to a Tee, right down to the flashy purple suit and greasy black pony-tail, chatting it up with this orange-haired girl clad in grey, white, and bright green. The girl didn't seem to be aware of the guy's (rather painfully poor) attempts at flirting, if the oblvious and friendly look on her face was any indication._

" _Why yes, I am actually from Atlas! How did you know?" The girl asked, a friendly smile painted onto her face._

" _A man like myself has a knack for telling these types of things. It's one of my MANY talents, along with being stronger than any of those posers at Beacon." The delinquent boasted, a sleazy grin on his face._

" _Ohhh, you're stronger than the students at Beacon?" The girl asked wondrously, a curious look on her face._

" _Of course I am! Hell, I'll sweetheart." The guy proposed, sleazy grin all too clear on my face. "To show you how tough I am compared to those blowhards at Beacon, I want you to punch me as hard as you can." He explained, puffing out his chest for the girl to hit, causing her to look at him curiously._

" _Really? Are you sure that's what you want me to do?" The girl asked, innocent curiosity in her voice as she asked this._

" _Of course, no matter how hard you hit me, or how much aura you pack into it, there's no way it'll cause me to go 'Good night.' I'm just that tough, my beauty." The delinquent assured, confident that he wouldn't even flinch from a punch from such a petite girl._

" _Wow! Alright then, you must be really strong, aren't you?" The girl asked cheerfully, winding back her fist as she said this._

 _ ***WHAM* *FWOOM***_

" _ **GOOD NIIIIIIIIIIII-!"**_

 _What happened next was so instantaneous that Joseph almost didn't see it. As soon as the girl's fist made contact with the purple-clad delinquent's chest, he was sent flying past him with the speed of the bullet, screaming 'good night' as he did so._ **(2)**

" _HOLY SHIT~!" Joseph yelped, watching as the poor guy crashed into a crowd at the other end of the street, where he remained there, prone save for the occasional twitch. So caught up in looking at this crumpled heap of a man, he didn't notice that the girl had moved closer to him until she spoke up, catching his attention._

" _How strange. Did the wind help propel him forward?" The girl asked herself, apparently quite surprised by the purple-suited delinquent's sudden flight._

" _I don't think a draft was what sent that guy flying, little buddy." Joseph remarked, giving the girl a friendly pat on the shoulder before continuing on his way, unaware of her looking at him with widened eyes._

" _Never a dull day in Remnant…" He mused to himself, taking in another mouthful of hot coke._

" _Wait a moment!" The girl suddenly exclaimed, somehow appearing right in front of Joseph without warning._

" _ **PFFFFFT!"**_

 _Which in turn caused Joseph to spit out his hot coke in shock… right in front of the girl, who was unfortunately standing in point-blank range of this._

" _What did you just call me!?" However, the girl didn't seem to mind this backwashed beverage on her face one bit, instead opting to get an answer to her question, leaning in and looking at Joseph expectantly._

" _I… didn't insult you if that's what you're trying to say..." Joseph assured, wondering if perhaps this girl misinterpreted what he said to her._

" _No… you called me_ _ **「**_ _ **buddy...**_ _ **」**_ _Buddy means friend… does this mean I'm you're 'friend!?'" She asked excitedly, a hopeful look in her eyes._

" _...I've barely said more than twenty words to you…" Joseph said slowly, but upon seeing the disappointed look on the girl's face, he continued quickly. "But… sure! Yeah, why not? You're my buddy."_

" _Sen-sational!" Penny cheered happily, throwing her hands up into the air. "Now we can do stuff that all friends do! Like going shopping, trying on clothes, putting on make-up, and talking about cute boys!"_

 _._

 _._

 _._

" _...Okay, sure, why not? Let's go clothes shopping. Hell, I actually know a guy that could give your outfit a bit more style." Joseph said with a shrug of his shoulders, putting his hand on the small of Penny's back and beckoning her ownward._

" _Oh, this is just wonderful! I feel like this will be the beginning of a wonderful friendship!"_

" _Yeah… it certainly does… by the way, do want a moist towelette or something to wipe all that coke off your face?"_

* * *

And we did just that. I took her to Rohan to give her outfit a bit of an overhaul." Joseph explained, gesturing to Penny's fancy new outfit and her cleaned off face as he did so.

"When we got to our destination, we met a clothes designer! He was so nice, that he even gave me this outfit free of charge! He said, 'It would be a crime against humanity to walk around in those rags for a moment longer.' I especially enjoy this hat." Penny explained happily, unaware of the exasperated and annoyed looks on the girls' faces upon hearing Rohan's name. While the other three members of Team RWBY hadn't been properly acquainted with the clothes designer yet, Yang's… colorful choice of words regarding the man implied nothing good.

"I… wasn't really up for her getting that hat, but she was pretty insistent on it." The four of them noted that for some reason, Joseph looked rather uncomfortable as he said this. Like that checkered top hat Penny was wearing forewarned of horrible things to come. But that was just a ridiculous idea! There was no way at all that this tophat the peculiar girl was wearing implied anything nasty… right?

"So anywaaay…" Ruby began, hoping to divert the topic to a less odd matter. "You're supposed to be from Atlas, right Penny? Does that mean you're one of the transfer students for the Vytal festival?"

"Affirmative! I came here to compete in the tournament!" Penny confirmed.

"Wait, YOU'RE planning on entering the tournament?" Weiss asked incredulously. "Yes! I am combat ready!" The green-eyed girl confirmed, throwing her right arm forward into the air, apparently as some kind of salute.

"Forgive me, but you hardly look the part." The heiress admitted, quite skeptical of Penny's claim. "This coming from the girl wearing a dress?" Blake asked, a deadpan tone in her voice.

"HEY! I'll have you know that skirts are actually very easy, and comfy, to move around in! The real pain in the ass is the high-heels!" Came an indignant response, not from Penny or Ruby, two dedicated "battle dress" users, but rather _**Joseph**_ , of all people. In response to hearing this, all of RWBY slowly turned towards the Joestar, looks of disturbance, confusion, and bafflement all present on their faces due to his words, and just how he knew all this.

"Ah… thank you for the compelling argument, Joseph, but… HOW exactly do you know this…?" Weiss asked slowly, pretty much vocalizing what everyone else present (except Penny) was wondering.

.

.

.

"I know this through a various series of events that I will not go into right now." Joseph stated simply, crossing his arms as he did so.

"Wait a moment!" Weiss said, realizing something. "If you came here for the tournament, does that mean you know that monkey-tailed… uh" Before she could finish that inquiry, the cold glare Blake was giving her caused her to reconsider her words for a moment. "rapscallion?"

"Uhh…" Was all Penny could say, not exactly sure what Weiss meant when she asked that question.

"Y'know! That filthy faunus from the boat!" The heiress continued, showing her a crude-looking drawing of the stowaway.

"Why do you keep calling him that!?" Blake demanded angrily, causing Weiss to cease her questioning to look at her in confusion. "Huh?"

"Will you stop calling him all these demeaning things already!? He's not a rapscallion and he's not a degenerate, he's a person!"

"Oh, _I'm sorry,_ " Weiss began sarcasm clear in her voice. "So does that mean you'd also want me to stop referring to this trash can as a trash can? Or this lamppost as a lamppost?"

"STOP IT!" Blake yelled, growing more angry by the second.

"Stop what!? He clearly broke the law! Give him some time, and he'll probably join up with the rest of those faunus in the White Fang." She dismissed, infuriating Blake further.

"URGH! YOU ARE SUCH A LITTLE BRAT!" She yelled before stomping further down the street, although Weiss wasn't going to just let Blake have the last word like that.

"How dare you talk to me like that! I am your teammate!" The heiress shot back, stomping after Blake. In no time flat, the two girls began to throw rebuttals and insults at each other heatedly, completely forgetting about Joseph, Ruby, Yang, and Penny.

"Well, this got pretty heated…" Joseph noted, watching as the two girls continued their argument, completely oblivious to the world around them.

"Yeah… I think we should probably go…"

Where are we going?" Penny asked happily, completely oblivious to the tension in the air.

* * *

 **[Next Morning. Joseph's dorm room.]**

"Well, this is a first. This was probably one of the first times I had a dreamless night since I came here…" Joseph thought to himself as he sat up in his bed, reflecting on his dreams, or lack thereof, last night. True to his word, last night was probably one of the best naps he had gotten since he ended up on Remnant, because this time, there were no visions showcasing the life of a long deceased relative. Instead, nothing but blackness greeted him when he fell asleep last night.

"Guess that really was the end, huh..."

However, despite this, or perhaps because of this, Joseph found his mood to be rather somber. In the end, he supposed that a part of him wanted to deny the facts that were in front of him and believe that somehow, Jonathan managed to survive his confrontation with Dio, and that this world's equivalent to Erina was able to live out the rest of her days happily with him. Of course, denying these facts now would prove to be fruitless, wouldn't it?

' _I never did find out what the point to all this shit was, either.'_ Joseph realized as he got up, only adding to the frustrating and sadness he felt. What WAS the point to all this? Why was he forced to spend several weeks experiencing the chronicles of Remnant's version of Jonathan Joestar? Was someone trying to tell him something? And if so, then how did they make Joseph experience all this strange dreams… visions… whatever they were in the first place? The end of those visions provided no answers, only more questions.

"Fuck…" The Joestar sighed, unconsciously clutching onto the necklace that held the red stone, the only memento he had from his previous life. "I wanna go home…"

 ***Knock Knock Knock***

However, before Joseph could spend even more time feeling homesick and depressed, the sound of someone knocking on his door caught his attention. Putting on his best game face, the Joestar made sure to look as neutral as possible before answering the door. When he did so, he was greeted with a somber looking Ruby and Yang, along with a rather upset looking Weiss.

' _Looks like I'm not the only one in a bad mood.'_

"Morning JoJo…"

"Hey there."

"Hmph…"

"Ah, morning ladies, so to what do I owe this pleasure?" Joseph asked, leaning against the doorway.

"Well, we were wondering if you heard from Blake or if she gave you a call. We asked Jaune and the others, but they haven't heard anything." Ruby asked, hoping that Joseph had heard from their teammate.

"No, why? Something happen?"

"Great… looks like we're gonna have to start searching Vale then." Yang groaned tiredly, rubbing her eyes.

"Are any of you gonna explain what the hell's wrong, or am I just gonna have to start guessing?" Joseph asked dryly.

"Something happened last night, and Blake hasn't come back to the dorm since." Ruby explained, a miserable look on her face.

"Oh shit…"

"You can say that again, and that wasn't the only thing that happened either." Yang added in, causing Joseph to raise a brow.

"Huh? Whaddaya mean? Did something else happen?" He asked, only to get an uncomfortable look from both Ruby and Yang before the younger sister answered.

"Well… first, you have to promise that you won't tell anyone else about this! Understand?"

"Sure, I'm great at keeping secrets." The Joestar assured the both of them, however, they didn't seem to be too convinced, if the skeptical look on both their faces was any indication.

"That isn't gonna do, JoJo. Ruby and I both wanna hear you promise that this all stays between the four of us." Yang said, a serious look in her lavender eyes as she looked at him.

"Alright, alright! I promise, sheesh. Now can you tell me what the hell is going on here?" Joseph said, interested in finding out what was up with all girl team.

"We… we think Blake might be a faunus… and that she might've had something to do with the White Fang too." Ruby explained sadly. As she said this, the silver-eyed girl looked at the Joestar, wondering how exactly he would react. And while he did certainly have a vocal reaction to this revelation, it certainly wasn't what any of the girls were expecting.

AH HA! I FUCKING KNEW IT!" Joseph declared loudly, surprising Ruby, Yang, and even Weiss.

"Wait, you're saying you KNEW Blake was a faunus?" Yang asked incredulously, causing Joseph to shrug his shoulders in response.

"Well… nothing was set in stone. It was just kind of a hunch I had when I picked up on a few things. Like that bow of hers twitching all the time."

"So? What would her bow twitching have to do with anyth…" Anything else Ruby was going to say died in her throat when she put two and two together.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

 _ *****_ **Fwoo...***

Huh… I guess someone left a window open." Joseph noted when he felt a draft of wind out of nowhere.

"Well, we better go to Vale and start looking for Blake. Thanks anyway, JoJo." Yang said, she and her other two teammates continuing on their way.

"Hold on a minute." The Joestar spoke up suddenly, getting the girls' attention once more. "How about I lend you girls a hand and make this whole search of yours much quicker." He offered, willing to lend the three of them a hand.

"Wait, are you saying you know where Blake is!?" Ruby asked hopefully, only for Joseph to shake his head in response.

"No, but I can find her right now." Joseph smiled, spawning _ **「**_ _ **Hermit Purple**_ _ **」**_ in the palm of his hand. "Now, mind if I borrow one of your scrolls for a minute?"

* * *

 **[Yesterday. The docks.]**

Soon after the departure of our two enigmatic faunus, the ship that the both of them came to Vale via was finally able to properly dock itself, and as such, the many transfer students and tourists from Mistral were finally able to set foot on their long-awaited destination.

"So... this is the city of Vale. It's certainly as lively as I've been told." One such individual remarked as he walked down the ramp that led to the docks, his long, orange cloak flowing behind him. After several weeks of waiting at sea, this man had finally made it to his destination, and could now finally begin the job he'd been sent here to do.

' _Such a large city, and with no proper place to begin searching either. It seems I may be here for longer than I anticipated…'_ The man thought to himself, making his way through the crowd of faunus and humans alike to get onto the streets. While he could certainly appreciate the diverse culture Remnant's many kingdoms had to offer, a part of him still wished he could've remained at his store in Sanctum. Still, he had a job that he needed to do here, and the man wouldn't rest until it was completed!

"Now then... I wonder where this Joestar is hiding…" The orange and white-clad man mused to himself as continued his walk, deciding he would find a hotel to base himself in before he began his search.

 _ **-To be continued...**_

* * *

 **Intermission 3: Joseph Joestar and the million dollar button**

Lately, things had been relatively pleasant for our muscular hero. His classes had been going by smoothly and nothing particularly dangerous had happened lately, and that was enough to make Joseph feel content and relaxed. But on top of all this, his new iScroll 6 finally got delivered! Currently, the Joestar was sitting on his bed and eagerly opening up the package, glad to finally have a replacement after his last one blew up.

 ***RIIIIIIIP***

Alright!" Joseph began enthusiastically, ripping away the the brown paper that held his new scroll. "Let's see what the cutting edge… of tech… looks like…?" However, instead of some sleek looking, small white tablet, the Joestar instead found himself holding onto a gigantic plastic red device that had two white knobs on the bottom corners. After double checking the packaging he received to make she he hadn't missed anything, he realized that _**this**_ was his iScroll 6.

"I… can't help but feel like I've been gypped." He lamented as he looked at the gigantic red plastic tablet.

 ***Bwoom***

Suddenly, Joseph's attention was drawn to the middle of the room, where a large, imposing figure suddenly appeared out of nowhere, steam and smoke billowing around him, as if to commemorate his sudden entrance. The man had long, golden, silky blonde hair that went down to the small of his back and was wearing a flashy looking white outfit that was complimented by various gold accessories, such as two golden Ds on the knees of his pants. An outfit that did a good job at accentuating his trapezius muscles. However, what had to have been the most notable feature about this man had to have been his dark-blue skin and that fact that he had the word _**DIO**_ tattooed in gold around his cheeks.

"Man, and I thought my getup was gaudy… so uh… are you like a deliveryman or something…?" Joseph asked casually, not particularly fazed by the bizarre man's sudden appearance.

" _ **Know my name, and remember it Joestar, for I, am DIO."**_ The blue man said extravagantly, getting into a flamboyant pose as he did so. Oddly enough, all light in the room seemed to gravitate towards him as he did this, creating a sort of makeshift spotlight.

"DIO, huh? What, is that name of the mail company you work for, like FEDREX?"

" _ **The only sort of package I have for you, is this."**_ Suddenly, a large, muscular figure that resembled a platinum Fabio in a banana-hammock appeared in front of Joseph, presenting him with a black box that had a large, red button on it. However, to say the brunette wasn't impressed by this would be a bit of an understatement.

"...Okay, it's a button. Whoopty fucking do. Now do you have my actual iScroll 6, or am I gonna have to file a complaint to your employers?" If this kept up any longer, the Joseph WAS gonna find the head of this guy's department and he WILL file a complaint for poor service.

" _ **This button is not just any button, but a device that could make you a very rich man… at a small price of course."**_ The _**DIO**_ delivery man explained, a dastardly smirk beginning to grow on his face.

"...continue."

" _ **IF you press this button, then you will gain a million dollars in this world's currency."**_ The delivery man stated, eyes closed for dramatic effect as he said this.

"...I just have to press this, and then I'll have a million bucks?" Joseph asked slowly, brows raised.

" _ **Indeed, however, if you do this, then-"**_

 ***Bap***

.

.

.

It took the deliveryman a moment before he realized that the subject of his game just _**pressed the fucking button before he finished his sentence.**_

"So… did it work?" Joseph asked simply, waiting expectantly for his million lien.

" _ **...What did you do… WHAT DID YOU FUCKING DO!?"**_ The man demanded, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him back and forth repeatedly.

"I PRESSED THE BUTTON THAT WAS GONNA GIVE ME A MILLION BUCKS, JACKASS. WHAT'S IT LOOK LIKE!?" Joseph yelled angrily, trying to stop the psychotic blue man's constant shaking of him.

" _ **I see that, BUT WHY!?"**_ He demanded, looking at Joseph incredulously.

"Aw, c'mon! Cut some slack, will ya? You tell me you have this button that's gonna give me a million bucks as soon as I press it, and tell that it's all mine to press! Who the hell WOULDN'T press it!?" He defended himself, unable to understand why the strange looking deliveryman was making such a big deal out of this

" _**SOMEONE THAT DOESN'T WANT TO RISK KILLING SOMEBODY THEY KNOW, YOU SENILE FOOL!"**_

 _ **.**_

 _ **.**_

 _ **.**_

"Come again?"

" _ **You heard me right, Joestar."**_ The delivery man smiled sadistically, pleased that he would soon get to see this arrogant punk's attitude fall apart once he heard this next part. _**"Because of your impulsiveness, you didn't allow me to explain what the secondary feature of this button is! It DOES indeed make you a million lien richer… IN EXCHANGE FOR THE LIFE OF SOMEONE YOU KNOW!"**_

"I see…" Joseph said slowly, putting his hand under his chin in thought. "So is it anybody specific we're talking about here, orrrr…?"

" _ **There is no way to know who you've killed until AFTER you press the button. It could be only a passing acquaintance, or it could be a close family member of yours, or perhaps it's the life of the person you-"**_

"Oh! Just hold on for a second, man. I gotta take this."

"Joestar speaking... Oh, hey Rubes, something-? Wait, what about Ozpin?... the entire faculty is in an uproar? Huh, you don't say. Uh… I just remembered I needed to do something so… bye." Joseph said as the blue-skinned man could only wait for the Joestar to finish his conversation. Sure, he could just use his reality warping powers to speed things up a bit, but for some reason, he felt like that would've taken away from the twisted humor of this scenario. When he finished turning the knobs on his iScroll 6, the brunette looked towards his guest with pleased look on his face.

"Well, looks like you weren't fucking with me afterall! Thanks for letting me use that button, pal!"

" _ **...What were you talking about on your tablet?"**_ The man asked numbly, a straight look on his face as he said this.

"That was just Ruby confirming that your button worked. Turns out Ozpin was the one who got killed by the button. Right now, they're saying he went into cardiac arrest from "too much caffeine consumption." But, you know how it is. At least I'm a million lien richer now." Joseph dismissed, shocking the blue-skinned delivery man.

" _ **WHHAAAT!? THAT'S YOUR REACTION!? WHAT ABOUT YOUR HEADMASTER!?"**_

"Yeah, I know, it's a damn shame. He still had so much life left in him." Joseph said offhandedly before another thought came to mind. "Say, humor me for a minute here. What would happen if somebody pressed that button again?" The man could only pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration before he took up his dramatic tone once more.

" _ **No one has ever pressed this button twice in a row… but if you do, then you would get half as much money, but for double the cost!"**_ The DIO delivery man stated, causing Joseph to look at him curiously.

"So the gist of it is, if I press the button, I get 500,000 lien, but then two people I know will die?" The brunette asked, causing the man to nod in response.

" _ **Indeed… just remember that if you press that button once more, the blood of three people will be on your ha-"**_

 ***Bap***

" _ **FOR THE LOVE OF ME, WHY WON'T YOU JOESTARS EVER LET ME FINISH MY-"**_

 ***Bap***

 ***Bap***

 ***Bap***

 ***Bap***

" _ **Okay, great. I guess this is a *Bap* thing we're doing now"**_ The mysterious man sighed as Joseph continued to press the button that his stand was holding out for him. This process continued for another moment before Ren walked into the room hoping to ask Joseph something, only to be silenced by the scene in front of him.

"Joseph… ***Bap*** what's going on here? Who is this man?"

"Hey, Ren! Get this! This guy right here is one of those guys that has a button that'll give you a million bucks that'll also kill someone." Joseph explained as he continued to press the button.

"Is that so?... would you mind if I gave it a-

 ***Bap***

 ***Thump***

Suddenly, Ren's eyes gained a glazed-over look and he fell down to the floor, dead. In response to this, an excited and triumphant smirk came onto the delivery man's face.

" _ **AH-HA! Now here are the consequences of your actions laid out before you, you spoiled brat!"**_ The delivery man taunted, a smug smile on his face. _**"Now you see that money is nothing if you have no friends to share if with or any existential thoughts about hea-"**_

"Yeah, that's great and all. ANYWAY!" Joseph interrupted loudly, much to the man's chagrin. "I bet you that I can kill the next person I call for before they even get in here!"

"You are missing the point to this ENTIRE-"

"JAUNE! HEY JAUNEY BOY! GET IN HERE!" The Joestar called out, rapidly hitting the button as he did so.

" _ **I give up…"**_ The man sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Soon enough, the blonde knight came in through the doorway to see what Joseph needed.

"Hey Joseph, you ca-! OH MY GOD, REN-!"

 ***Bap***

 ***Thud***

And just like Ren, the leader of Team JNPR also fell to the floor, dead.

" _ **Ah! You lose! He came into the room when he died!"**_ The delivery man said.

"Aw, that's B.S! He was in the doorway, I'm sure of it!" Joseph protested, but the victorious smirk on the blue-man's face seemed to indicate that he didn't believe him.

"Okay, how about this. I bet you that I'll be able to get them before they say 'button.' You dig?" He challenged, ready to win the next round.

" **Very well. I, DIO, accept your challenge, Joestar."** The delivery man agreed, admittedly starting to have a lot of fun with this.

"OH YANG! YANG, COME IN HERE, YOU'RE PRETTY! YOU SHOULD COME IN HERE CAUSE YOU'RE SO PRETTY!" Joseph called out gleefully as he continued to press away at the button.

"You called, Jo-." Yang began, walking into the room before she noticed the scene in front of her. "Who is that? And what's with that bu-"

 ***Bap***

 ***Thump***

"HA HA! IT WORKED~!"

" _ **SIMPLY WONDERFUL~!"**_ The both of them cheered, both having a disturbing amount of fun with this entire scenario.

"Hey, hi-five?" The Joestar offered cheekily, holding out his open palm.

" _ **How about hi-button?"**_ The delivery man proposed, his Stand holding out the button vertically for him.'

"YES! YES! YES! OH MY GOD!"

 ***Bap***

 **[FIVE HOURS LATER]**

" _ **So, uh… look man. I'm not gonna deny hanging around with you has probably been the most fun I've had with a Joestar, but I'm beginning to think I should head on my way."**_ The delivery man admitted, taking a chug out of a wine bottle his stand spawned for him as Joseph continued to absent-mindedly press the button, the bodies of Team RWBY, JNPR, CFVY, CRDL, Cinder Fall, Roman Torchwick, Johnny Joestar, and Salem surrounded them both.

 ***Bap***

"Aw, are you sure? I mean, we could go get some take-out, some fried chicken maybe. See if we can't get everyone working in the place in one button press." The Joestar offered, a bit saddened at the prospect of the blue-skinned delivery man leaving.

 ***Bap***

" **Nah man, I mean, that sounds grand, but I've got stuff to do. Lives to ruin, souls to control, ancient holy corpses to steal."**

 ***Bap***

"Aw, c'mon! I just feel like we were starting to get to know each other!" Joseph protested, hoping that they could prolong this for a another hour or so.

 ***Bap***

" **N-No, trust me when I say we are NOT getting to know each other."** The delivery man explained hastily, the slightest bit of panic in his voice.

 ***Bap***

"No, really! Like, I'm honestly starting to feel like you and me are becoming real good fri-"

 ***Bap***

 ***CRASH***

 ***THUD***

...And before Joseph could even finish that sentence, the delivery man's stand suddenly shattered into a ton of tiny pieces and he himself slumped down to the floor, dead, leaving him with the still pressed button in his hand.

.

.

.

"...Must've been that skin disease he had. I mean, blue skin like that isn't exactly natural..." Joseph dismissed offhandedly before looking towards the button that was still in his hand. He looked at it for another moment before an amazing idea made it's way into his head.

"Wonder if I could sell this on Maiden's List."

* * *

 **Yeah, I kinda had some inspiration from the RT skit "Button" when I wrote this. In all honesty, Johnny probably would've been the better option to star in this omake, but this is "Joseph Joestar: Hamon Hunter," not "Johnny Joestar: Paraplegic Hunter."**

 **(1)... I'm not apologizing.**

 **(2) Yeah… so cookie if you figured out who that was.**

 **Welp, I hope you all like this chapter! I hope the reveal of these two characters in the story surprised all of you:)**

 **So anyway, in a recent turn of events, I've realized that is lacking to two very important categories that're nearly unforgivable: It's lacking in both a Beelzebub/Highschool DxD fanfiction and a JoJo/Senran Kagura fanfic! Because of this, I figured I'd do what most people do and write a fanfic proposal!... because I'm both too lazy and too busy to make either of these concepts a reality right now._. In any case, if anybody out there is interested in either of these ideas, check in on my account in the next couple of weeks, and the proposals should be uploaded there. Also, if anybody is interested in this, then PM me or wait for when I eventually upload the proposals. I'd prefer to avoid having the review section being cluttered with people saying they're interested, if they actually are.**

 **Anyway, later.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Okay, chapter 15 for your viewing pleasure. Also, get this. I actually just rewatched Caesar's fight with Whammu, and it kinda made me realize that the extravagant and over-the-top fighting style of RWBY could actually go hand-in-hand with JoJo's analytical and methodical fights. It's especially better since the main character I'm writing about was also the main character of the part that fight took place in. Kinda gives me a sense of reassurance, if that makes any sense. Anyway, hope you enjoy!**

 **((A very valid observation from a fellow author has caused me to rephrase the JoJo/RWBY database at the end of the chapter. Nothing major, just thought I'd let you all know.))**

 **(Also, if this makes up for anything, this chapter is around 40 pages long. So I wasn't just spending the past month and a half with a thumb up my ass ._.)**

 **Disclaimer: I learned disclaimers are pointless today! Yaaaaay.**

 **Joseph Joestar: Hamon Hunter**

"So if we hurry, we should be able to find Blake at that cafe, right?"

Sometimes, there are points in Joseph Joestar's life when he has to stop and ask himself why he, of all people, had to be the one to endure such bizarre scenarios.

If Joseph had to pick a specific date where all these strange happenings began, it had to have been with that whole plane crash he and his uncle got into when those assholish… what were they again? Terrorists? Thieves? Quite frankly, Joseph hadn't really been paying attention to who they were or what they wanted at the time. In any case, the point where he used his breathing to crash that plane with those assholes still in it was probably what marked the beginning of these bizarre happenings. Then, around four to five years after a long string of relative peace, there was that whole mess with the Pillar Men he got caught up in, where he ended up travelling around the world fighting a group of thousand year old beings before subsequently getting launched into space. And now, he was currently stuck in another world helping a group of teenaged girls that wanted to fight soulless abominations for a living find their missing teammate, who was a member of a species that was part animal.

It all sounded pretty weird when you sum it all up like that, doesn't it?

"That's what Hermit Purple's spirit photography showed us, and it hasn't been wrong so far!" Joseph confirmed. After offering his help to the girls, the Joestar was given Ruby's scroll to use, allowing him to work his magic. However, rather than just use the TV feature like last time, Joseph instead opted to use the scroll's built in camera to pin-point Blake's location. Once they got a picture of the black-haired girl sitting at a cafe and apparently talking with someone off camera, the four of them made haste towards that location, which Yang recognized as a place she frequented before attending Beacon. Wasting no time, the four of them hurried towards the cafe's location, hoping to reach it before Blake moved on.

"Hmph… are you sure that we should be heading to this cafe, and NOT to the nearest police station?" Weiss said with an annoyed huff from the back, causing Ruby and Yang to look at her in annoyance and appalment while Joseph just gave her a bemused look.

"Ugh, Weiss, will you cut that out, already!?" Ruby demanded, beginning to grow very irritated. "I get that you're angry at Blake, but we're not gonna go and turn her into the police for no reason!"

"Yeah! We don't even know Blake's side of all this either!" Yang added in, emphasizing with her sister's annoyance. "We can't go off making assuming stuff like this until we got the full picture!"

"It was _just_ a suggestion." The heiress huffed, standing by what she said. "Yeah, a bad one." Ruby muttered under their breath, although not quietly enough to go unnoticed by Weiss, who let out an annoyed sigh before continuing onward.

"Look, all I'm saying is that the guilty don't run, guys." However, before she could go any further, Joseph suddenly held out his arm in front of her, blocking her path.

"What? What do you think you're- WHA-HEY!" Weiss didn't have enough time to finish that sentence before the brunette used his other hand to poke her in her forehead and push her backwards.

"Alright, here's what's gonna happen, girls." Joseph began, looking towards the two sisters and ignoring the irate Schnee. "You two head over to the cafe and find Blake, will ya? Me and your cold-hearted friend here will catch up once I talk some sense into her."

"No complaints there~!" Yang said happily, pleased that they wouldn't have to deal with Weiss's constant complaints now. "Try to catch up soon, alright? Thanks JoJo!" Ruby added in before she and her sister continued on their way towards the cafe, leaving only Joseph and Weiss in the area now.

"Yeah, I hear ya." The Joestar assured offhandedly before he withdrew his hand, allowing the irate heiress to finally say something.

"Great! What's your problem this time!?" Weiss demanded angrily, in no mood at all to deal with the muscular brunette at this time. However, Joseph didn't pay her grievances any mind as he spoke up.

"Alright look, I'm just gonna straight-up ask you something here, and I want you to be as honest as possible, do ya got me?" Joseph stated in a tone that booked no argument, causing the heiress's eyes to widen slightly before she answered. "I… alright, fine. What do you want to know?"

"Do you really want to see your friend go to jail?" He asked bluntly, shocking Weiss greatly.

"I-!? What kind of question is-"

"Do you seriously wanna throw away the friendship you two have just because of some possible connection she might have with these White Fang assholes?" He cut off quickly, not willing to let the heiress respond till he got his point across. "You've known Blake for a couple of months now! I mean, I don't really bunk with you girls, so I don't know her as well as any of you, but she sure as shit doesn't look like some kinda fanatical terrorist to me."

"Well… I can't deny you have a point there…" Weiss admitted, sighing sadly. "It's not as though I don't want to trust her, but… if you knew of the White Fang and what they've done like I do, then you'd understand why I'm so skeptical right now."

"Yeah, speaking of which, I've been meaning to ask. What exactly IS your whole beef with these assholes, anyway?" Joseph asked, having not been privy to the climax of the heiress's and Blake's argument last night.

"Basically, to sum it all up, the White Fang has been at odds, or in more blunt terms, at war with my family for years now. And I don't mean political warfare either, I mean actual war, with deaths on both ends. Important people from my father's company have been straight up been executed. Members of my family have disappeared. Possibly millions of liens worth of dust stolen over time." Weiss sighed, hating the fact that she had to tell this story twice in such a short span of time. Just bringing it up brought back so many _difficult_ memories of her time back in Atlas.

"Hmm… Yeah, I won't lie Weiss, that all sounds pretty shitty." The Joestar admitted, realizing that the schnee's cynicism and distrust was rather justified, albeit very misplaced. After taking a moment to think of what he should say next, he thought of something and continued.

"…Alright, just humor me for a minute here." Joseph began, causing Weiss to look at him with a raised brow. "I'm not gonna go off and tell you that you're being stupid here, because you're not, and I'm not gonna try and tell you that these White Fang punks aren't all bad, because from what I've heard so far, they sound like the worst kind of scum." He admitted, honestly unable to find see the organization in any kind of sympathetic light. The Joestar kept up with the news on Remnant, and he heard all about how the White Fang harassed people, fucked up peaceful faunus protests, and all-in-all just made life shitty for a lot of people. Actions like those didn't really garner much sympathy from the brunette, regardless of their motives or the people they were comprised of.

"Glad we're on the same page there at least." Weiss said, relieved she wouldn't hear Joseph try and place the White Fang in any kind of sympathetic light. In all honesty, it made her a bit more open-minded about whatever he was gonna tell her next.

"But don't you think hating on an entire species for what these assholes have been doing seem a bit… I don't know, bigoted? narrow-minded as all hell? Retarded? Not only that, but do you really wanna see Blake get put behind bars just because she used to work with them? Hell, you haven't even heard her side of the story either!" Joseph pointed out, apparently having hit some kind of nerve with Weiss if the look on her face was any indication. "If you wanna hate these guys and see them get taken down, that's all well and fine, but acting the way you've been because of it makes you look real fucking stupid."

"I… suppose you make a good point there." The white-haired girl admitted, looking down to the side.

"So what're ya gonna do? You gonna keep being a narrow-minded dumbass, or are you gonna start acting like the perfect, wonderful heiress you keep making yourself out to be?" The muscular brunette asked, looking at his friend expectantly.

"Fine…" Weiss sighed after a moment's thought. "I'll admit that when you put it all like this, I _might've_ been a bit too hasty in jumping to conclusions-"

"You might've?" Joseph cut her off, a cat-like smirk on his face.

"Shut up. In any case, however, I suppose that you are right in that I should at least give Blake to explain herself."

"There! See how far swallowing your pride will take you?" Joseph asked jokingly, nudging the heiress with his elbow. "Well, it would've been much easier without your constant prodding or insults, that much I can say for certain." Weiss huffed, continuing towards their destination.

"Cut me some slack here, will ya, Weissy? That's just the way I talk to people!" The Joestar reassured her, quickly following after the heiress. "If we're gonna be honest here, you guys, Jaune's merry group, and Velvet are the best people I've had ever since I've ended up here!"

"'Ever since you've ended up here?' You're not from Vale?" Weiss asked, the final part of Joseph's compliment not going unnoticed by her. "Are you a transfer student of some kind? Your fashion sense would actually fit the students of shade academy, if what I've heard and seen of them is true." Now that she thought about it, that would make a lot of sense. The brunette's constant and strange mannerisms could all be explained if he was a foreigner from out west. Plus, that would also explain the heavy contrast in fashion sense that he held in comparison to the rest of Vale's citizen's. As a transfer student herself, things such as these didn't go unnoticed by the heiress, she just hadn't really thought about it until now.

"Ah… yeah, you could say that." Joseph responded, looking a bit uncomfortable. This didn't go unnoticed by Weiss, but she didn't press the issue any further.

' _I suppose Blake wasn't the only one with secrets…'_

* * *

"...So that's why I left." Blake finished as she set her cup of tea down, having just finished giving Sun, who she ended up running into after what happened last night, a rather abridged history of the White Fang and how she was associated with them. "I decided that I would no longer use my skills to aid in their violence and would dedicate my life thereafter to becoming a huntress."

"Man… that's pretty heavy stuff, Blake." Sun managed to say after he regained his voice, surprised that this black-haired girl that caught his attention had such a dark history with a band of lunatics like the White Fang. Hearing stories like these certainly made the monkey-faunus glad that he never bought into those psychos' lies.

"Yup… and all the while, I've spent the last couple of months at Beacon academy, none of my friends, or even my teammates, aware of the fact that I'm a former criminal. And it's all thanks to one little _ **「**_ _ **black bow."**_ _ **」**_ Blake explained, wiggling her cat ears through her bow just to emphasize her point.

"Woah, these last couple of months must've been pretty crazy for you, huh?" Sun asked, earning a small nod from the former White Fang member, before he continued. "So, what's the plan now?"

"...I know this'll probably sound strange, but I still don't think the White Fang are the ones responsible for all these Dust store robberies. I've worked for them since before I could fight and I've never seen them need such a high quantity of dust before." Blake admitted, a part of her genuinely unable to understand why her former associates would need such a large amount of dust all of a sudden, and another part of her just hoping that they weren't responsible for this sudden string of robberies.

In response to all this, Sun looked thoughtful for a moment before a look of realization came across his face. "Well, and humor me for a minute here, what if they _did?"_ He proposed, only to get a slightly confused stare from his associate.

"What?" Blake asked, unable to get what Sun was trying to tell her. However, before he could elaborate further, a voice that the cat faunus hadn't expected to hear now of all times caught her by surprise.

"Blake! There you are!"

Turning around slowly, Blake was shocked to see both Ruby and Yang coming her way, expressions of relief and joy on their faces. In response to this, Sun merely watched the two head towards their teammate with a curious expression on his face. If the monkey-faunus had to guess, then he was going to assume that these two were Blake's teammates from Beacon.

"R-Ruby, Yang… how did you both manage to find me… a-and where's Weiss?" The black-haired faunus asked, shocked that her teammates were able to find her so quickly and apprehensive to the answer to her second question.

"JoJo used his stand to find you for us. He's with Weiss right now, probably giving her an aneurysm too." Yang answered for Ruby, a slightly joking tone in her voice. However, the good-natured expression on her face soon gave way to a more serious expression before she continued. "But I think it's time you owe us some answers too."

"Sooo… I'm guessing you didn't get the chance to tell them about your… you-know-whats, before you ran into me, right?" Sun noted casually, getting the sisters' attention. Now that they had a closer look, they recognized the blonde faunus as the same stowaway from yesterday. Upon realizing this, the two of them now had to wonder what he was doing with Blake.

"Not a good time, Sun!" Blake said sharply before she looked back towards the two sisters, a nervous and guilty expression on her face.

"But you're right, I owe you, Ruby, and Weiss a lot of answers." The yellow-eyed girl began "...I'm sorry for not telling any of you about my past sooner. I knew I'd have to eventually, but… I just didn't know how to do it…"

"Blake…" Yang muttered, looking at her teammate sadly before she continued. "Look, what matters now is that we found you before you did anything stupid. Now, what's gonna happen next is that you're gonna explain to us EVERYTHING that's been going on, and we're gonna sit back, listen, and accept it, because we're a _team,_ and teams got each other's back." The blonde explained, a resolute tone in her voice. Whatever Blake had to say about her past wasn't going to matter, not to Weiss, not to Ruby, and certainly not to herself. What happened in the past doesn't matter anymore, what does matter was what the four of them did as a team now.

"Uh… actually, before we get too deep into this conversation and everything, we might wanna wait till Weiss gets here..." Ruby cut in, looking back towards the road they came to cafe on with slight apprehension. Looking towards it herself, Blake could see why.

Currently, marching towards the cafe with narrowed eyes and Joseph Joestar lagging behind her was Weiss Schnee, and judging by the look on her face and the way she singled out Blake the second she saw her implied she had a great deal of things to say to her.

"Oh boy… this should be good." Yang said, grabbing onto her sister's hood and dragging her out of the way before either of them could get caught in a potential crossfire. Taking a deep breath, Blake decided that she couldn't just run away like she did before and merely looked back at the heiress as she strode right up to her.

' _Well, I guess it's time to face the music…'_ Blake thought dryly before she spoke. "Weiss, before you say anything," She began, getting up from her seat and looking towards her white-haired teammate. "I just want you to know that I cut all ties I had with the White Fang months ago and tha-"

"Ubupbupbup! I don't want to hear it!" Weiss cut her off sharply, effectively shutting her up. "You're not going to say a word until I've said my piece, understand!? Any justifications or rebuttals you have in store can wait until I'm finished." She stated, the tone in her voice making it clear that she was dead serious.

"I… I understand… go on." Blake agreed, letting Weiss continue with whatever she had to say, even if she was probably going to hate whatever came out of her mouth next. In response, the heiress gave her faunus teammate a nod of acknowledgement before she crossed her arms and continued. "I've had all night to think about this and the walk over here as well, and with everything in mind, I've realized… that I couldn't care less!" She stated simply, causing Blake to look at her in shock.

"Y-You… don't care?" She asked slowly, causing Weiss to nod in response.

"I don't. I thought I did, but then I realized that who you used to be in the White Fang and who you are now are two different things entirely. Besides, if you really were still affiliated with them now, then you likely wouldn't even be attending Beacon." The heiress said, the sincere tone in her voice making it clear that she meant everything she was saying. "In the end, I shouldn't let my disdain for the White Fang affect how I see you. Whatever your affiliation with them was doesn't matter now. Just so long as you're finished helping them."

"I… Weiss…" Was all Blake could say before she wrapped her white-haired teammate in a tight hug, unaware that tears were running down her face. "Thank you…"

"Well, we're a team. It's important I give you the benefit of the doubt." Weiss admitted, an exasperated smile on her face at Blake's blatant show of affection.

"Wow… I think this might be the most affectionate I've ever seen Weiss. what'd you say to her?" Yang asked Joseph as she watch the two of them reconcile, a pleased smile on her face. "Eh, the usual kinda spiel. 'Give her the benefit of the doubt, don't be so quick to judge her, friends should trust each other' and all the usual shit. The kinda stuff you see on TV." The trickster explained, a similarly pleased smile on his face..

"ALRIGHT~!" Ruby suddenly cut in between Blake and Weiss happily, surprising the both of them. "Team RWBY is back together and ready for action! So, what do we do now, Blake?" She asked eagerly, surprising the black-haired faunus.

"What? What are you…?"

"C'moooon, you can't hide it from us. You were planning on doing something super-dangerous and exciting because of all these robberies, weren't you?" Ruby said playfully, completely right in every regard, shocking the black-haired girl even more so.

"'Us?' No, Ruby, I can't get any of you involved with this. It's my problem."

"Really!? That's your response!? Haven't you been listening to a thing we've said since we got here!?" Weiss cut in heatedly, narrowing her eyes at Blake. "We're a team, you dunce! If you're going to be doing anything dangerous, then you're going to be doing it with US, not just with some… stranger." The heiress stated, although she was mindful to avoid saying anything offensive regarding Sun.

"But… it could be dangerous…"

"So what? We ARE training to fight monsters as our job. I think it's safe to say we wouldn't be doing our job right if we weren't getting involved in life-threatening situations every now and then." Yang added in, a sly smile on her face. After seeing that her teammates clearly weren't going to relent on this, Blake let out a small sigh before speaking.

"Alright… you're right. Basically, Sun and I," Blake began, gesturing towards the monkey faunus from yesterday, who'd been relatively quiet once her teammates had shown up. ("Hi there!") "were essentially trying to come up with a plan to see if the White Fang were really the ones behind all these dust robberies that've been happening."

"You still don't think it's them?" Weiss asked curiously, instinctively crossing her arms. In response, the yellow eyed girl looked indecisive for a moment before she continued. "I'm… honestly not sure yet, but I wanna know a definite answer before anything else happens."

"Okay, so essentially, I was thinking that the best way to prove it WASN'T them was to head to where they WOULD do something like this, only to NOT find them there." The blonde faunus proposed, doing a little finger gun gesture at the group once he said this. "Seems like a good plan, right?"

"Hmm… that does seem like a good plan, but the thing is, I have no idea where that would be." Blake said, raking through her brain for any potential hot spots the White Fang would attempt to hit for dust.

"Well, it's certainly a good thing I do." However, she didn't have to think long before Weiss suddenly spoke up, confidence clear in her voice. "I try to keep up to date with any and all dust shipments that head towards Vale, and as such, I happen to know that a particularly large shipment is going to be arriving at the docks tonight."

"Yeah, I actually heard the same thing while I was on the ship. Seems like just the place they'd hit if they're really the ones behind this." Sun added in, having heard a group of passengers on the ship discussing the same shipment.

"Alright then, it's settled! Team RWBY with special guests Joseph Joestar and… uhh…" The enthusiastic leader trailed off when she realized that she never got the name of the blonde stowaway.

"Sun Wukong." Sun finished for Ruby, introducing himself with a raise of his hand.

"Right! Sun Wukong will all be heading to the docks for a stake-out!" Ruby finished excitably before realizing that she didn't really speak for either of the team's 'special guests.' "Well… I mean, if they want to go… that is…" She finished awkwardly, shuffling her feet around for a moment as she waited for a response from either of them.

"Hey, I was gonna suggest heading for the docks before you guys came along, so no complaints here." Sun reassured Ruby with an easygoing smile. If anything , the blonde faunus was relieved that they'd have more backup in case anything happened.

"Great!" The silver eyed girl cheered before looking to Joseph. "JoJo, do you wanna come along too? I don't think any of us would normally involve friends, but you DID find Blake for us, sooo… do you wanna come?" Like she said, neither Ruby nor the rest of her team would likely involve any of their friends in these kind of affairs if they had a choice, but since the three of them had only found Blake thanks to the Joseph's powers, it was safe to say the Joestar more or less earned a free pass this time round.

"Fine by me. But don't expect me to pay for any stake-out snacks, that'll be coming out of your wallets." Joseph shrugged, not really having anything important to do anyway.

"Or we could just steal a few snacks from a few places." Sun suggested without a second thought.

.

.

.

" Ehhh… you'd be on your own there, paly." Say what you want about Joseph, but he didn't really want to add "Accomplice to thievery" to be added onto the list of many… less than positive things he did. Although his hesitance would come off as strange if one knew of how he beat the tar out of two police officers in a moment of rage.

"...Do you always break the law without a second thought?" Blake asked her newfound companion, a deadpan tone in her voice.

"Hey, weren't you in a cult or something?" Sun rebutted, only to get an icy cold stare from Blake, looks from the rest of Team RWBY that implied his remark was in very poor taste, and Joseph… well, the Joestar just decided to steer clear of this little catastrophe just waiting to happen.

.

.

.

"Okay. Too soon." The monkey-faunus meekly admitted, although it did little help.

"Anywaaaay…" Ruby began, hoping to change the subject a bit. "To the docks! It's time for a stake-out!" She exclaimed, excited for what was to come next.

* * *

 **(A few hours later.)**

"Ugggghh…. This is SO boring…" Ruby groaned out, a miserable look on her face as she and her team lied on the roof of a building that overlooked the docks. Currently, she and the rest of Team RWBY were doing as they said they would and waited for any kind of suspicious activity to take place now that the dust shipment finally arrived and it's cargo was moved off the boat. Of course, while they were waiting for something to happen, Blake took the time to explain to her teammates her exact involvement in the White Fang. It was pretty much the same story she told Sun, and since her previous involvement with the organization didn't matter to any of them, there was no real reason to go into it any further.

"Tell me, what exactly were you expecting?" Weiss asked, growing annoyed with her leader's constant complaining. "A stakeout entails waiting for who knows how long for something that might not even happen. What did you think we were gonna be doing?"

"Yeah, hate to say it, but Weiss does make a good point for once, sis." Yang interjected, ignoring the indignant protest she got from Weiss as she continued. "We're just gonna have to lie back and wait for now."

"I guess so…" Ruby sighed, hoisting her head up with her hand as she continued to watch the docks for any kind of suspicious activity. The all female team continued their observations for a few more minutes before the sound of someone landing on the roof caught their attention. Looking towards the source of the noise, they saw that Sun had made his return from his food run successfully, if the bundle of apples and bananas he was holding onto was any indication.

"Ay. Did I miss anything?" The blonde faunus asked as he took a seat on the edge of the roof and peeled a banana. "Nothing good." Ruby sighed, grabbing onto one of the apples Sun got and taking a bite out of it, the sour and juicy taste of the fruit helping take her mind off her boredom.

"Say, where's JoJo? Didn't he go with you to get something to eat?" Yang asked, noticing that they were still missing one person.

"He said that he was gonna go get some donuts for us to eat. Wanted to 'complete the experience' for us" Sun said with a slight chuckle, taking a bite out of his banana after.

"Well that's nice of him. I could actually go for something sweet right about now." Yang noted, smiling.

"Hmph. Bet he wouldn't be feeling so generous if it wasn't my credit card he was using." Weiss grumbled under her breath, still annoyed that the Joestar had the gall to demand someone else pay for _his_ junk food, and even more annoyed with herself that she actually let him use _her_ credit card.

"Aw c'mon, Weiss. Lighten up a little bit. I don't think a couple of pastries will put that big of a dent into your savings, Ms. Heiress." Yang joked, giving her white-haired teammate a playful nudge on the shoulder. She let out an annoyed huff in response, but didn't say anything else as she continued to keep a look out.

"By the way, I've been meaning to ask. What exactly is your deal with that guy, anyway? I thought the four of you were all on the same team. Is he like a friend of yours that's on another team or something?" Sun asked, curious about the muscular brunette's relationship with Beacon Academy's amazon brigade.

"Well, technically speaking, we ARE on the same team, but he's also on another team with our friends, but whether he's on our team or not doesn't really matter in the long run since he has his own room and kinda just does his own thing and… ugh, I think I'm getting a headache." Ruby groaned, clutching onto her head as she tried to make sense of Ozpin's decision to put Joseph on both hers and Jaune's team. It seemed like a pretty cool idea at the time, but in retrospect was actually kinda stupid.

"Huh. Sounds kinda needlessly complicated." Sun noted, understandably confused by the headmaster's decision to make such a pointless pair-up.

"Yeah, you can say that again. But, he's been really interesting company, so I'm pretty glad he hangs around us and all." As soon as Yang said this, another one of her brilliant jokes came to her in a flash of inspiration. Smiling broadly at this sudden stroke of brilliance, she then proceeded to share this amazing play on words she came up with with everyone present.

"Hell, with a personality like his, I bet he could even be the Joe-STAR of his own TV show! Right guys?"

.

.

.

"What?" Yang asked when everybody just went completely quiet.

 ***FWWEEEEEOOOM***

However, before anyone had the chance to call out the blonde for her horrible taste in jokes, the sudden appearance of a bullhead blowing the wind all around them caught their attention. The high-tech ship circled around the docks for a brief moment before landing in the very center of the area. Once the ship was properly grounded, a ramp extended from it's entrance, allowing several hooded figures, all of whom were wearing masks that resembled a grimm's faceplate, to march out of it.

"Oh no…" Blake breathed out, having recognized the uniforms of these men instantly. The conclusion that she wanted to avoid since this entire mess began was now impossible to deny.

"Is that them?" Sun asked, taking the female faunus' distraught reaction as a sign that these men were indeed members of the White Fang.

"Without a doubt. I'd recognize those dreadful uniforms anywhere." Weiss scowled, also familiar with the uniforms the men, wore along with the bloody wolf symbols that were on the backs of all of them.

"Sorry Blake… looks like they were the ones behind the robberies afterall." Yang said, putting a hand on her distraught partner's shoulder.

"No… I mean… I think I knew deep down that they were the ones behind this. I just… didn't want to be right…" Blake admitted, a solemn tone in her voice.

"HEY!"

Blake was soon brought out of her brief stint of depression, however, when a loud voice from inside the bullhead spoke up and began to walk down the ramp. Both her and Ruby's eyes widened when they got a good look at this person in question.

"What's the hold up here, people!?" Came the voice of an impatient Roman Torchwick, his cane echoing against the metal of the ramp as he walked down it and onto the docks. "We're not exactly the most inconspicuous bunch of thieves at the moment, so why don't you animals pick up the pace?

"It's that Torchwick guy! What's he doing here with them!?" Ruby whispered, taking care to not let her surprise raise her voice. The silver-eyed girl had her suspicions that Torchwick was the one behind all these dust robberies, after all, she saw man raid an entire store and take nothing but the dust firsthand, but she didn't think that he'd be working with the White Fang as well.

"This isn't right, there's no way the White Fang would work with a human," Blake said, getting up from her spot and drawing her weapon's blade form. "Especially not one like him!" And with that, the former White Fang member, jumped off the roof and sprinted towards some cargo containers for cover, ignoring her team's and Sun's protests.

"Blake! What are you doing!?" Ruby called out, hoping in vain that her teammate would turn around and regroup with them.

"What is she-!? I guess we should've expected this. We might as well lag behind and act as her backup now." Weiss sighed, deciding she may as well roll with the punches as she also dropped down the roof, following after Blake.

"I…! Yes, as team leader, I second this decision!" Ruby agreed once she recovered from her surprise, jumping off the roof as well and taking care not to attract any attention.

"Well, that looks like our cue. You coming?" Yang said, readying her gauntlets before looking over to her fellow blonde.

"What about JoJo? I'm sure this is kinda obvious, but he hasn't really come back yet." Sun asked, although he already knew what Yang's answer was gonna be.

"Looks like he's gonna have to miss all the fun for now. But don't worry, he's smart. I'm sure that once he gets back here, he'll figure out what's going on." Yang dismissed before jumping off the roof.

"Yup. Saw that one coming from a mile away." Sun noted, resignation clear in his voice before he also jumped off the roof and followed the girls. If everyone present was so insistent they pick a fight with these guys, then he may as well roll with the punches. In no time at all, the four of them managed to find a good place from behind the cargo containers to take cover and watch the unfolding events. All they had to do now was wait for the right time to strike in case things went south. Blake seemed to have sneaked off to another part of the docks, because she wasn't anywhere nearby.

"No, you dumbass! This isn't a leash!" Roman barked to the nearest White Fang soldier, already growing fed up with their slower than molasses pace as well as their overall incompetence. If he had it his own way, then he wouldn't even be wasting his time working with these animals. But alas, when the creepy woman with yellow eyes and the power of fire at her finger-tips tells you to do something, you're rather inclined to listen.

 ***SHING***

"What the-!?" Before he could continue distributing orders, however, he was suddenly grabbed from behind by Blake, who put her weapon's blade before he could do anything. Upon realizing what happened, the look of surprise on Roman's face quickly changed to one of exasperation.

"Oh, for fu-"

"NOBODY MOVE!" Blake interrupted before the thief could finish that profanity. Upon hearing this, the surrounding soldiers quickly leveled their weapons at her, although neither she nor her alleged hostage seemed to worried about this preceding turn of events.

"Woah-hoho! Take it easy there, little lady." Roman said, the smirk he had and the tone in his voice making it clear he didn't think he was in any real danger. Ignoring this remark, Blake quickly undid the bow in her hair, allowing her cat ears to be seen by everyone present, before she spoke up.

"Brothers of the White Fang!" She began. "Why are you aiding this scum!?" The black-haired faunus demanded, apparently having hit a nerve, if the way those soldiers lowered their weapons and looked towards each other for answers was any indication.

"Ohhh, kid. Did you forget to check the mail when the memo came by?" Roman asked smugly. "What are you talking about!?" Blake demanded, the grip on her blade tightening.

"The White Fang and I are going in on a little… let's say… 'joint business venture,' if you would." The thief explained, a flippant tone in his voice that only served to further aggravate Blake. In response, she then proceeded to bring her blade right up against his neck, now only requiring a bit more pressure to break the skin, aura or not.

"You're gonna tell me what this little operation of yours is right now, or I'll be putting a premature end to it." Blake threatened. However, before Roman could respond to her threat, the sight of another bullhead circling around the docks caught everyone's attention. The ship flew closer to the crowd of people below and then proceeded to shine it's lights on them.

"'Little operation,' riiiiight. You just keep calling it that, sweetheart." Roman jeered, looking at the bullhead with a smug look on his face before he saw the rest of Team RWBY and Sun trying to sneak up on the surrounding White Fang soldiers.

"Well would you look at that! Seems like you brought some friends." Roman noted with a smirk. Suddenly, before Blake could react, the white-clad thief suddenly slammed the back of his head against her face, causing her grip to loosen just a little bit, and that was all he needed. Capitalizing on the advantage he created, Roman broke out of Blake's grip on him before grabbing her by the arm and throwing her forward. Knowing that she would likely just recover mid-flight and retaliate, he wasted no time and decided to scatter the rats.

 ***Click* BOOM***

Firing off a blast of his Melodic Cudgel at Ruby's group, Roman managed to send the teenagers scattering in different directions and was able to get those absent-minded animals to focus their attention somewhere else. That being said, the thief wasn't able to appreciate his victory for long before he had to side-step out of the way of Blake, who tried to stab him with a speedy diving stab.

"Looks to me like you need some house training, kitten." Roman taunted, pointing his cane at the black-haired faunus and firing off a barrage of explosive rounds, forcing her to dodge out of the way and seek cover behind some more cargo containers.

"Here kitty, kitty, kitty." He called out mockingly, twirling his cane in his hand as he strolled towards the containers Blake had taken cover in.

 ***Splitch***

However, before he could go any further, something that sounded rather limp and organic landed on the tip of his bowler hat. Growling in irritation, Roman threw the object, which turned out to be a banana peel, off his hat, and looked upwards, hoping to find and blast the uppity brat that had the gall to throw their trash at him. As soon as he did so, however, he was immediately hit in the face by what appeared to be a green apple stump.

"OW! What-!?" Roman didn't have much time to express his frustration before he was forced to roll out of the way of a volley of high-impact sniper rounds. Just when he thought he was in the clear, however, he was suddenly charged by Sun, who began to hit the thief with a flurry of hits from his staff, finishing it all off by fluently transforming his staff into a pair of lever-action shotguns that doubled as nunchucks and fired both guns at him at once, all the while at point-blank range. The force of the blast sent Roman flying backwards, but he was able to roll back onto his feet when he began to sprawl about the ground.

"Ugh… people all day today." The professional thief groaned, dusting himself off and readying himself for what was bound to be an annoying battle.

* * *

 **(A few minutes before the White Fang's arrival.)**

"Nothing like donuts to complete the stake-out experience!" Joseph remarked merrily as he strolled out of Ken's Donuts, five boxes of freshly made donuts in tow. It had taken a little while to what he needed, especially with that drunk guy trying to buy some donuts with what looked like a half-eaten cake, but it was all worth it now. The Joestar had tried these glazed miracles in the past and could say with certainty that these delicious pastries were a god send.

"Oh really? And why is that, JoJo?"

"JESUS PAINT-HUFFING CHRIST!" Joseph yelped, nearly dropping all his donuts in the process. Once he regained his composure and made sure he didn't drop anything, the brunette quickly turned to the source of the voice, and was surprised to see Penny Polendina looking at him curiously. Once the embarrassment of being startled like that wore off, the Joestar gave his rather strange friend a questioning look before speaking up.

"...how in the hell do you keep sneaking up on me like that, buddy?" Joseph asked, unable to understand how someone as strange and colorful as the orange-haired girl

"Sneaking up on you? Why would I do something like that?" Penny asked, tilting her head to the side slightly. In response to this, Joseph pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation before he continued onward, the orange haired girl now following him like a lost puppy. Upon closer inspection, the brunette noticed that the girl was wearing the same outfit she wore when he first met her, although she still retained her checkered top-hat. Seemed like the outfit he set her up with yesterday needed some cleaning.

"Nevermind. Forget I said anything," The Joestar dismissed, deciding that trying to explain this to her would be more effort than it was worth, before giving her a look of slight curiosity. "But… uh, it's pretty late right about now. I get you can take care of yourself and all, but what're you doing out here at this time of night?"

"Nothing in particular, I just thought I'd see what sort of sights the city might offer during the night. Vale is such an amazing place, and there's still so little I've seen of it too! What about you, JoJo? Do you normally explore the city at night?" She asked, causing Joseph to bite his lip unconsciously before he spoke up.

"Well, truth be told, I'm not really sure if I should tell you, buddy. I'm kinda doing something pretty important right now, but my other friends, Blake especially, probably wouldn't be too happy if I went off blabbing about it to everyone I see." The brunette explained with a shrug, aware that with how strongly she felt about all this White Fang business, Blake would probably throw a hissy fit if he got anyone else involved.

"Blake? You mean the faunus?" Penny asked curiously, causing Joseph to look at her in mild surprise. "How'd you know about that?" He asked, causing the orange-haired girl to simply point towards her hair.

"Her cat ears." She explained simply, causing Joseph's questioning gaze to change to one of understanding."Ah. So you saw it too, huh? Man, her disguise is actually pretty crappy the more I think about it."

"Anyway, this entire issue is kinda touchy with her, and I don't think she'd like it if you got involved, so once I get to where I need to be, you're gonna have to go, got it?" Joseph explained, causing Penny to nod in understanding.

"Don't you worry about me, JoJo my friend, I'll act like we never even met tonight!" the orange-haired girl assured him, giving the Joestar a salute as if to accentuate her point. In response, Joseph couldn't help but let out a few muted chuckles before he looked to Penny with his usual smirk.

"Glad to see we understand each other. Now, the place where I'm supposed to meet the guys is just down the street so I'll just-"

"Wait a moment, JoJo. You said further down the street?" Penny interrupted, looking towards her muscular friend with a curious expression on her face. "Yeah, why? What's it to you?"

In response, Penny merely pointed at something behind Joseph and gave her answer. "Well, is this big secret thing you're doing with your friends a campfire? Because there's a lot of smoke further down the street!" She answered, treating her explanation as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Smoke?" The Joestar questioned, turning around as he did so. "What the hell are you- OHHHH NO!" Was all he could say when he saw the gigantic pillar of smoke rising up back at the docks and began to hear the faint sounds of gunfire and explosions in that general area.

"SON OF A BITCH! Something must've happened while I was gone!" Joseph thought aloud before he looked to Penny, an urgent look on his face. "Penny! Go get the cops, will ya!? I gotta get over there right now!" And without waiting for a response, the Joestar sprinted towards the source of the smoke.

' _Man! Why does everything go to shit when it's not me doing something!?'_ Joseph thought as he leaped over the fence that led into the docs, spawning _**「**_ _ **Hermit Purple**_ _ **」**_ on both his forearms in the process. _'Just hope nobody is hurt too badly… I don't wanna deal with a repeat of everything that happened with the Pillar Men here.'_

However, on his way towards the battle, the brunette decided he'd make a detour into the dock's security booth to pick up something _ **「**_ _ **useful**_ _ **」**_ he left in there. Wasting no time, Joseph quickly opened up the locker where he hid this object and opened it up, and was greeted with the simple yet amazing item he left inside it.

"Well, looks like it's your time to shine!" Joseph said gleefully as he took out the weapon he left inside, taking a moment to admire how nicely it's _**「**_ _ **wooden finish**_ _ **」**_ complimented the black steel before he decided to get a move on.

"Now this brings me back to New York. Here's hoping these assholes are as dumb as _**「**_ _ **Straits.**_ _ **」**_ "

* * *

' _Man! You'd think a sleazy thief like this guy wouldn't be so good at fighting!'_ Sun thought with gritted teeth as Roman was able to fight on par, possible even better, than the combined force of himself and Ruby together. Yang, Blake, and Weiss would've jumped in to lend a hand, but the blonde and her partner were to busy cutting through the attacking White Fang soldiers while the heiress of was in the middle of using her glyphs to try and bring the bullhead down.

Still, the monkey faunus couldn't just give up now that he was dealing with a challenge, now could he? Once he got his second wind, Sun leaped into the air and tried to strike down the thief with his nunchucks while he was busy dodging and parrying various shots on Ruby's end. Unfortunately, Roman saw this coming from a mile away and simply sidestepped out of the way before he kicked Sun upside the head and proceeded to blast him at point blank range with his cane, an irritating smirk on his face all the while.

"Sun! Are you alright!?" Ruby asked in concern, using her semblance to grab the blonde by his armpits and help him regain his footing. That blast ended up knocking a few yards away from Roman. "Aside from the wounded ego? Yeah, great!" Sun joked, clearly not taking the circumstances all that seriously. Still, the joking was actually kind of appreciated, helped make things seem a bit less dangerous.

Okay, good to hear!" Ruby said with a smile before she looked back towards Roman, who was currently checking the soles of his shoes to make sure they were clean, his posture making it clear he didn't feel he was any real danger. In response, a scowl came onto the silver-eyed girl's face before she looked towards her current partner. "You ready to show that jerk why he shouldn't play around with us?"

"Don't need to tell me twice!" Sun confirmed, ready to jump pay the thief back tenfold for that attack of his. "Alright! Then let's go!"

"YO, RUBY! MONKEY-MAN!"

However, before either of them could jump back into the fray, the attention of everyone present was brought towards the sudden voice that came out of nowhere, apparently calling to both Sun and Ruby. Looking towards it, the two in question were surprised to see Joseph Joestar standing a few yards off with an urgent look on his face. However, what caught their attention even more so was the _ **「**_ _ **fully loaded Tommy Gun**_ _ **」**_ he pulled out from behind his back.

"J-JoJo!? What are you-" Ruby began, but was cut off when ***Click*** of the Tommy Gun's safety echoed through the dock.

"If I were you guys, I'd duck!" And with that, the Joestar, leveled the gun in Roman's direction and pulled the trigger.

"Oh boy…"

 ***RA-TATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA***

With barely enough time to react, both Sun and Ruby threw themselves onto the ground as the hot-blooded brunette let loose a hail of bullets, swinging the barrel of the ancient machine gun in every possible direction.

' _Really!?'_ Weiss thought incredulously as she spawned a glyph in front of herself to act as a shield. _'I thought he just used that breathing technique in tandem with those bolas! Where'd all this come from!?'_

"Woah!" Blake yelled as she and Yang jumped out of the way, watching as the bullets hit every single White Fang member unfortunate enough to not get out of the way. "Should we even ask how he managed to find a gun that old in such good condition!?"

"Not really. I think the mystery of it is half the fun~!" Yang remarked, impressed that Joseph once again managed to pull a trick that surprised everyone present.

 _It's just one thing after another with these kids, isn't it!?'_ Roman thought, his frustration growing with each passing second as he dodged and used his cane to block oncoming hail of bullets. Fortunately for Roman, the Tommy Gun Joseph was using was an old relic he picked up in an antique store, coming from an era long before humanity had the good sense to infuse their weaponry with dust. Thanks to this, that made blocking the brunt of these bullets with his cane and aura a laughably easy matter once his surprise wore off. They'd leave quite the mark in the morning, but nothing he couldn't live with.

After another moment passed, Roman was pleased to hear the clicks of an empty machine gun, meaning he could now pay this beefy bastard back in full for his little surprise attack.

"Don't think I'm through with you yet!"

However, just before he could attempt to raise his Melodic Cudgel in retaliation, the orange-haired thief was caught off guard when Joseph sprinted towards him with the speed of a professional athlete, now brandishing his empty Tommy Gun like it was a baseball bat. Roman let out a silent grunt of annoyance and pointed his cane at the brunette, but by the time he did, it was already too late. With the stock of his weapon now radiating with his Hamon energy, Joseph proceeded ram the butt of his gun into the thief's face as hard as he could.

It would've been very painful if Roman didn't react to it in time.

"Shit! You're faster than you look!" Joseph said in shock, genuinely surprised that his attack was blocked like this. Yes, during the last second, Roman took advantage of the fact that he still held his cane up and quickly repositioned it right where the Joestar was supposed to hit him. Because of this, the professional thief now had his, very sturdy mind you, cane up and blocking the brunt of the hit. When he began to feel the Joestar try and apply more pressure to the hit, likely hoping to power through his defenses, the professional thief suddenly pushed all of his weight back into his attacker, getting him off him and distorting him slightly. Capitalizing on this, Roman then proceeded to whack the side of his opponent's head with his cane before delivering a roundhouse kick to his side, sending him sprawling to the ground.

"Well, that wasn't nearly as glamorous as I thought It'd be." Joseph grunted once he rolled back onto his feet, now glaring at Roman, who had a grin of smug superiority on his face.

"Gotta admit, I'm more than a little disappointed here. When I first saw you at that dust store, I had this gut feeling that you were trouble. But! All the flashy displays you've put on aside, I think it's safe to say now you're all bravado and hot air." Roman mocked, twirling his cane around in his hand as he began to approach his muscular opponent, now intending to finish him off before he took care of his little friends.

"Oh really? You're saying you think I'm all flash and no substance? If I were you, I wouldn't dismiss me so quickly." Joseph retorted with a smile, putting up his arms in surrender. "I'll just flat-out say it, I might look brawny, but I can tell that I'm not nearly as tough as most people around here…"

"That being said," Suddenly, the brunette jerked his right hand back as quickly as possible, causing a small ***Chink*** to be heard on Roman's coattail. "What I'm lacking in strength I more than make up for in speed and brains!" Joseph taunted, a victorious smirk on his face as the grenade he planted on torchwick's body during his attack had it's pin removed, garnering a look that bordered on shock and terror on his part, and pure surprise on everyone else's. However, as the professional thief's expression changed to one of grim determination, the Joestar decided to initiate the second phase to his little attack.

"Nice try, meathead, but you'll need to be smarter than that to get the jump on a professional." Roman taunted, kicking the grenade into the sea-

"FOOD TO THE FACE!"

Since he was so preoccupied with batting the grenade away from him, the professional thief was unable to do anything when Joseph did something completely unexpected that caught him off guard entirely.

And that unexpected action was a barrage of custard filled donuts to the face.

"You want some jelly to go with that, asshole!?" Joseph taunted heatedly as he continued to throw the custard and jelly filled pastries at the white-clad thief. Yes, never one to repeat the same tricks twice if he could help it, and of course, lacking enough grenades to pull the same trick he pulled on that asshole Straits, the Joestar instead opted to throw an entire box of donuts he was hiding at Roman's face like they were those 'Shoryuken' things he heard those Japanese ninjas used. The fact that he was also filling each of these donuts with some Hamon also helped increase the size of the mess these donuts made. In no time flat, Roman's face was entirely obscured with jelly and custard, his once sterile, white coat now stained all sorts of sugary substances.

' _Now to follow through while he's downed!'_ Joseph thought once he ran out of donuts to throw. Wasting none of the time he bought himself, the brunette sprinted towards the blinded Roman with his fists clenched, both his arms radiating with Hamon. Then, once he was within hitting distance, Joseph then slammed both of his Hamon-infused elbows into Roman's chest, applying as much force as he could. "Here's some Hamon to top it all off for ya! _**「**_ _ **REBUFF OVERDRIVE!**_ _ **」**_ "

And with that, the professional thief was then sent flying into the air, unable to do anything due to the excess of hamon sent into his body rendering him numb. Capitalizing on this, Joseph quickly summoned _**「**_ _ **Hermit Purple**_ _ **」**_ and let the purple vines extend through his right hand and ensnare Roman. Following up quickly so the force he was going at wouldn't disorient him, the Joestar then used all of his strength to slam his stand and the hapless victim it ensnared into the ground with a loud ***CRASH.***

"Oi Ruby! Sun! Think fast!" Deciding that he didn't want to hog all the spotlight to himself, Joseph decided he'd give both Ruby and Sun a chance to shine as well. With a smirk clear on his face, the Joestar mustered up his strength once again and then proceeded to swing the helpless Roman towards his two allies, letting _**「**_ _ **Hermit Purple**_ _ **」**_ disappear once he swung him in their direction.

 ***BANG* "** HIYA!" Ruby whooped out gleefully once she saw the opportunity presented to her, using the recoil of Crescent Rose to propel herself boot first into Roman before slashing at him in a mid-air flurry. Following her lead, Sun leaped into the air once Ruby prepared to deliver the final blow in her combo and combined said final blow by slamming his heel down on the battered thief's scalp. The end result of this little tandem attack sent Roman slamming into the ground, a medium-sized explosion of dust surrounding him for a moment before it cleared up.

Now, you would be forgiven for assuming that just throwing gooey pastries at your opponent's face wouldn't be a very effect attack strategy, but don't forget that you can't exactly fight very easily if your vision is completely obscured. Roman could flail around and fire off explosive rounds all he likes, but you can't exactly hit your target if you don't know wher it is, now can you?

"Oh, I am _**「**_ _ **101 percent**_ _ **」**_ done now…" Roman growled as he slowly began to pick himself up, wiping off his dirtied face with a handkerchief he pulled out of his coat's breast pocket, showing off the white-hot fury in his eyes."NEO! IF YOU'RE DONE ENJOYING THE SHOW, WOULD YOU MIND LENDING ME A HAND DOWN HERE!? SIX TO ONE AREN'T EXACTLY FAIR ODDS, NOW ARE THEY!?" He yelled out to some unknown third-party, anger and impatience clear in his voice. Ruby, perceiving what the criminal was saying as some kind of insane rambling, spoke up, sounding rather confused.

"Jeeze, did that last blow knock a few of his screws loo-GRK!" Before Ruby could finish that sentence, a figure clad in white and black suddenly appeared from above and stamped down on the silver-eyed girl's upper back as hard as they could. The blow was so out of nowhere and sudden that it pierced right through the Ruby's aura easily, causing her to hack out some blood before she slumped down to the floor, the shock of the blow likely knocking her out.

" **RUBY!"**

"What in the world!?"

"Holy-AH!" Suddenly, before anyone had a chance to realize what was going on, the black and white figure suddenly sprinted towards Joseph and slammed into him as hard as they could. Since this individual was an inhabitant of Remnant, and likely had their aura to increase the force of their blow, this surprise attack sent Joseph flying to the other end of the docks.

" **GET OUT OF MY WAY!"** None of this mattered to Yang, however, as all she could focus on now was making sure her little sister was okay and sending anyone unfortunate enough to get in her way flying. Unfortunately, while such rage upon seeing a loved one hurt is admirable, this blind anger and determination the now red-eyed blonde held also left her completely open to any and all surprise attacks, something that Roman was more than happy to capitalize on.

' _Well would you look at that…'_ Roman thought as he pointed his cane at the furious blonde, a sadistic smirk on my face. _'Things are already starting to look up for me!'_

The moment this thought crossed the orange-haired thief's mind was also the moment Sun decided to kick him across the face out of nowhere. Because of this, Roman stumbled backward, accidentally shooting off another explosive round before he looked to the new focus of his attention with a furious look on his face.

"YOU LITTLE SHIT FLINGER!" Roman yelled angrily, firing off explosive round after explosive round at the monkey-faunus.

"Hey! That's a stereotype!" Sun remarked with a huff, jumping and dodging out of the way of the explosions.

While all this was happening, Yang took this chance to get Ruby and bring her into one of the nearby warehouses. Once she made sure the building was empty and housing no White Fang members that decided to take shelter during the attack, the blonde did the most sensible thing she could think of in her enraged and worried state of mind and stuck her little sister in a nearby locker.

' _I know it isn't very glamorous, sis, but please, just bear with it till we get rid of these assholes.'_ Yang mentally pleaded as she threw out everything that was inside the locker and put Ruby inside carefully. _'I don't even wanna think about the possibility of someone coming in here when I'm not looking and just consider you an easy kill. You need to stay hidden for now.'_

Once she made sure that she could fit inside, Yang closed the locker door and began sprinting back towards the warehouse's exit, her fists clenched tightly all the while.

' _Alright then... Time to show whoever did that why messing with my family is a_ _ **bad idea.'**_

* * *

"GAH!" Joseph grunted as he rolled along the concrete floor, eventually ending with him lying facedown on the ground.

"Guh… What the hell just happened?" The Joestar groaned as he unconsciously gripped onto the side of his head, feeling something wet beginning to ooze down it. Taking a closer look at his hand, he saw that his palm was now covered in dark-red blood.

"Dammit!" Joseph said angrily, the gash he likely had on his head only adding to the frustration of getting blindsided so easily. Wasting no time, the Joestar threw himself to his feet and looked around the area quickly, trying to find the perpetrator behind the sneak-attack.

"Alright, wise-guy! Come on out!" Joseph demanded heatedly, continuing to look around the secluded area he found himself in. To be more specific, the brunette found himself to be distanced considerably from the rest of the brawl going on in the docks, currently a ways off and between an empty looking warehouse and a series of stacked up shipping containers that were as tall as the warehouse. If one paid close attention, then they would likely notice that all the containers had the Schnee dust company logo on all of them.

"Come on! Man up! If you come out right now, then I promise I'll just kick your ass gently!" Joseph continued to goad, growing annoyed with his attacker's apparent bout of cowardice. "What? Did you lose your backbone now that I know you're-"

 ***Twip…***

"...here?"

The reason for the sudden bout of confusion in the Joestar's voice was because he was now standing face-to-face with his attacker, and she was certainly not what he was expecting. To be more specific, standing in front of Joseph was a young looking woman that was dressed up in a similar attire to Roman's outfit, albeit not exactly the same and modified to fit a person that was apparently only 4 feet tall, maybe five if you were being generous. However, what had to have been the most eye-catching feature about this woman had to have been her hair and eyes. Her hair's color was some kind of mix of brown and pink, with one side being completely brown and the other side being a light shade of pink, both colors contrasting each other greatly. Her eyes also seemed to be heterochromatic, with both eyes being the same color as her peculiar hair color, albeit reversed.

In response to this peculiar looking young girl, the trickster of the Joestar family had only this to say.

"Jesus, I've seen some weird looking people in the last couple of months, but you seriously take the cake, pint-sized." The Joestar stated bluntly, causing the small girl's cheeks to puff out, apparently a sign that she was annoyed by what she heard.

"Well, either way, I hope you realize that I'm not gonna be pulling any punches with you for that little sneak attack! I don't care if you're a woman, you're gonna see what happens when people get on my bad side!" Joseph challenged, cracking his knuckles before doing the same for his wrists. That being said, the odd looking girl didn't seem to be very intimidated by his remarks, for in response, she merely opened up her parasol and held it over her head, a smile that conveyed a lot of the smug superiority now clear on her face.

"Smug little… you haven't even said a word and you're already starting to piss me off!" Joseph growled, whipping out his clackers before he sprinted towards her. In overhead motion, the brunette brought the spinning volley down upon the girl, only for her to side-step out of the way in response, that smug smile still on her face.

' _Shit!'_ Joseph mentally cursed, throwing the still-spinning clackers towards the girl before she could retaliate. Fully aware of the fact that she would simply sidestep out of the spinning toy's way, the Joestar followed up on this by wrapping _**「**_ _ **Hermit Purple's**_ _ **」**_ vines tightly around his right hand and letting them hang loose in his left. With his Hamon now flowing through his stand's vines, threw a doubled layered pucnh at the strange girl.

Unfortunately, the girl was also able to anticipate this attack as well and was able to easily parry it with her umbrella, and all the attacks that followed. No matter what Joseph tried to do, be it trying to strike her down with his Hamon and stand charged blows or attempting to ensnare her in _**「**_ _ **Hermit Purple's**_ _ **」**_ vines, he wasn't able to land any effective hits on the girl and was just barely able to dodge her counters.

"Would it kill you to hold still for just _five seconds!?"_ He demanded angrily, swinging his hand out in a horizontal motion, which in turn led to a wave of blue Hamon flying towards towards his opponent. Ducking under this, the girl took this opportunity to slam the butt of her parasol into Joseph's gut, leaving him gasping for air and accidently despawning his stand. Taking advantage of this, the girl, in a show of strength far greater than you'd expect of someone of her size, proceeded to jump onto the Joestar's shoulders in one fluent motion, grabbed onto his right arm, and finished off by backflipping off him and back onto the ground, all the while using the momentum she gained to throw Joseph into a nearby shipping container.

Thanks to the girl's rather small stature, the blow Joseph endured when he hit the shipping container didn't cause any real internal damage, like when he got smashed into that tree. The worst he'd have to deal with would be a rather nasty bruise the next morning. However, the Joestar barely had enough time to get onto his knees before the pink and brown haired girl suddenly leaped high into the air towards him, a manic smile on her face and _a long and sharp looking sword_ (possibly hidden in her parasol?) _poised to impale him._

"OH SHIT!" Joseph swore, rolling out of the way just as the sword embedded itself into the ground. In an effort to give himself some breathing room, the Joestar quickly spawned _**「**_ _ **Hermit Purple**_ _ **」**_ and sweeped it at the girl's feet as he rolled back onto his. Surprisingly enough, the purple vines actually hit their target and caused the white-clad girl to lose her footing, making her to fall to the ground with a surprised look on her face and allowing Joseph to leap back and put some distance between them.

' _DAMN! This brat has the worst kind of personality!'_ Joseph thought, unconsciously bringing his left hand up to his face as he kept his distance. This girl had his number in combat, so until he could think up a good counter-attack, he was best off staying as far away from her as possible. _'She has that smug air to her. She's skilled and she knows it too! The type of person that I can't piss off till I knock em' down a few pegs!'_ While the brunette was always able to use the personality and temper of his opponents to his advantage, he instinctively knew that the hardest person to manipulate had to be the smug assholes that could actually back up the shit they spouted. Of course, being the man that he is, Joseph never had to deal with this kind of person firsthand until now, and now that he did, he could say with certainty that he hated every second of it.

" **AAAARGH!"**

Before the muscular brunette could try and formulate some kind of plan to take this girl down, who had just gotten back up, his train of thought was interrupted when Yang suddenly flew past him out of nowhere and straight towards his opponent, her right fist clenched and raised.

"W-Whoa! The hell!?" Joseph yelped, not expecting Yang to suddenly intervene like this out of nowhere. Before he say anything to her, the brawler of Team RWBY threw a punch at the girl that was enveloped in a bright golden aura.

 ***CLANG***

' _Wha-!? How!?'_ However, the girl merely took the new fighter's sudden appearance and attack in stride and responded by simply parrying the blow with her sword. Now helpless and with her guard broken, Yang was unable to respond in time as the girl slashed at her left forearm with her sword, the power behind the attack being more than enough to cut through the blonde's aura and pierce her skin.

With all this in mind, it was certainly a good thing that Joseph Joestar always came prepared.

Just as the attack was about to connect, Yang suddenly felt some force from behind tug at her entire body with great force, sending her sprawling backwards and just barely out of the way of the girl's sword slash. Confused, and mildly annoyed, as to how her hit missed, the white-clad girl took a closer look at the blonde brawler's body, hoping to see what it was exactly that sent her flying backwards like that, and after a moment of inspection, she got her answer.

It seemed that as soon as she passed him, Joseph took the opportunity to wrap his stand's vines around Yang's waist in case something went wrong. Since the girl was too preoccupied with parrying the blonde's punch and Yang herself was far too angry to even notice, neither of them realized what the Joestar did until after everything was said and done.

"S-She countered my strongest hit like it was nothing…!" Yang muttered in disbelief, both shocked and furious that this tiny looking girl was able to parry her attack like it was nothing at all. However her disbelief soon gave way to anger as she slammed her fist into the ground, creating a small crater in it's way and got up, now beginning to storm over to the smug girl.

"Hey! Don't just go off and ignore me after I save your ass!" Joseph interrupted angrily, grabbing onto Yang's shoulder before she could go any further."You need to be more careful! If I didn't wrap my stand around your waist before you attacked, she would've taken your arm clean off!"

"Okay. _I get it._ Thank you, Joseph." Yang said icily, the tone in her voice making it clear that she wasn't in the mood to deal with this conversation. "Now do you mind? I'm not sure if you noticed, but that little _**bitch**_ over there nearly killed my sister, and I _won't_ let that slide." She reminded the Joestar, the person in question having now just sheathed her sword back into her parasol and was now waiting for them to attack once more, that smug smile all too clear on her face.

"I… I'm not trying to stop you here, Just please be careful..." The Joestar conceded, well aware that nothing was going to stop the vengeful blonde from attacking the girl, and that making her calm down after what she did to Ruby was a fruitless endeavor. "but don't forget that you're not doing this alone!"

"Hey, isn't that why I have you here? " Yang assured him, a slightly joking tone in her voice in spite of her anger. "Now… let's not keep her waiting any more, huh?" However, the light-hearted tone in her voice didn't last long, and she soon went back to scowling at the source of her anger.

"Yeah. Let's not." Joseph agreed, casting a glare over to the smug girl before both he and Yang sprinted towards her, ready to start round 2.

"ORAH!" Yang yelled, throwing another punch straight at the girl's face, only for her to simply move her head to the side before swinging her now sheathed sword at the side of the blonde's head. Letting out a huff of annoyance, Yang brought her right arm to the side of her head before the umbrella could hit her and blocked it.

Trying to capitalize on this, Yang threw her left fist as hard as she could at the girl's face, however, she avoided this by throwing her her head back and backflipping backwards, going out of the way to make sure her foot kicked the blonde square in the chin as she did so.

"ORA ORA ORA!" However, despite this, Yang was unwilling to relent and recovered instantly, now continuing to throw more punches at the girl, putting more strength into them as she did so. Of course, she was able to easily dodge or parry any attack that came her way, occasionally jabbing the brawler in her nose or gut when she had the chance. These blows didn't do any real damage, but did serve to further infuriate her.

" **RRRRRRR! ORAAAH!** " Yang yelled angrily as she threw a powerful yet very sloppy punch at the girl's face, which she easily back-stepped. In retaliation, the girl proceeded to kick the blonde upside the head in a graceful manner before subsequently dodging out of the way of another clacker volley from her left.

" **ZOOM PUNCH!"** Joseph cut in, throwing his now dislocated and extended punch at the girl. Without enough time to properly dodge, the oddly-colored girl decided to improvise in the best way she thought possible. And that was by taking advantage of the strange state the muscular brunette's arm was in by grabbing onto it just as it was about to connect and swinging him into Yang, who just regained her footing from that last blow. The end result was the Joestar crashing into the blonde and the both of them being sent sprawling to the floor.

"RRRAGH!" Yang yelled, her eyes flaring red once more as she forced herself back onto her feet. "I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"

"Yang…"

"I'M GONNA KNOCK THAT SMUG LOOK OFF HER FACE IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO!"

"Hey Yang-Bang!"

"If you wanna play around so much, THEN LET'S FREAKIN' PLAY, BITCH!"

'YANG! I need you to calm your shapely ass down and LISTEN!' The Joestar said with gritted teeth, finally getting Yang's attention. The blonde was still furious at this recent turn of events, but did as Joseph told her and did her best to calm down.

"What is it!?" She demanded impatiently, the color of her eyes still red. Joseph couldn't even look back at her when he responded, as his eyes still on that strange girl, who had since closed her umbrella and was now using it as a makeshift cane as she waited for the two of them.

'Make no sudden moves, but take a close look at my left hand and see what's between my fingers." The Joseph explained, his voice barely audible between his clenched teeth. Confused by such a strange request, but abiding nonetheless, Yang did as the Joestar told her and was surprised. Upon closer inspection, the blonde saw that the Joestar was holding onto a long, _**「**_ _ **blue woolen thread**_ _ **」**_ that was laid out all around the girl and was hidden underneath the grime and dirt of the concrete floor.

Quite frankly, Yang was shocked right now. Had Joseph been setting this string up the entire time they'd been fighting that girl without either of them noticing? As if in response to this internal question, Joseph spoke up once more, his narrowed eyes still on their opponent.

" _I've been laying this trap out the entire time we've been fighting her, and it's finally good to go now."_ The trickster explained, a serious and urgent tone in his voice. _"Now, I'm gonna hand you this thread, and when I tell you to do it, I want you to pull this string back and send the most powerful overdrive you can muster through it, got it?_ " He finished, nudging her hand towards her as subtly as possible. In response, Yang quickly shook off her surprise before she walked forward, making an effort to grab the string from Joseph from behind her back as she did so.

" _Got it. Just tell me when."_ However, the response she got from the Joestar in wake of this was certainly _not_ what she was expecting.

"OH, WHAT'S THAT? YOU'RE FEELING TIRED, YANG?" Joseph began in a deliberately loud and obnoxious voice, causing Yang to look at him in pure bafflement. How in the hell did the brunette interpret any of what she said as being tired? She still had more than enough energy to keep fighting this strange girl. However, the blonde didn't have much time to question the Joestar's strange actions before he continued. "WELL DON'T YOU WORRY. YOU JUST KICK BACK AND RELAX FOR A MINUTE, AND I'LL KICK THIS LITTLE PSYCHO'S ASS INTO NEXT WEEK!"

It took the blonde a moment before she realized that Joseph deliberately made a show out of that fake answer so that she would hang back for the time being. If Yang had to think of a reason for this course of action, it was likely because the brunette didn't want to run the risk of her messing up the string trap he set up. It made sense, though. While Joseph had plenty of experience subtly setting up traps and making sure he didn't set them off by accident while fighting, the brawler of Team RWBY had no such experience in these matters, and as such, ran a rather high risk of accidentally giving away the plan.

' _Alright, just wait and breath, Xiao Long. Wait and breath.'_ Yang thought to herself, beginning to steady her breaths as Joseph sprinted towards the white-clad girl once more. He started off by throwing another overdrive punch at the girl, only for her to dodge out of the way and retaliate and slam her umbrella into his stomach before sending him slamming into a shipping container once more.

"URGH…!" Joseph gasped, clutching onto his gut in pain, but managing to regain his footing, the trickster was forced onto the defensive as he was forced to avoid a flurry of strikes from the girl's sword. Leaping back, Joseph forced his feet onto the closest solid object behind him, another shipping container in this case, and pushed himself off it, _**「**_ _ **Hermit Purple's**_ _ **」**_ vines protruding out his right arm once more and extended high above him.

" **HERMIT PURPLE OVERDRIVE!"** Capitalizing on the momentum he built up, the brunette slammed the extended vines down where the girl was. However, she anticipated this counterattack and dodged out of the way once more, leaving only a series of vine-shaped craters in it's wake. Then, with barely enough time to react, Joseph brought his vine wrapped forearms up to block a strike from the girl's umbrella. Before Joseph could attempt to retaliate, however, he had to bring his fists over to the right side to his head to block another blow from his attacker. This kept happening at a faster and faster pace until the Joestar found himself backing away with his stand protected fists up as the girl continued to strike him at a rapid pace.

' _Shit!Shit!Shit!SHIT! LAY OFF, WILL YA!?'_ Joseph thought frantically as he kept backing up in a vain attempt to gain some breathing room. However, the oddly colored girl wouldn't have any of that and merely walked after him, still swinging her umbrella at him as she did so. This didn't last very long, for she soon proceeded to surprised Joseph by delivering a swift kick to his side, leaving the side of his waist in a stinging pain and sending him back-first into the ground.

 ***SHING***

"Oh shit…" Joseph muttered upon hearing the sound of something coming out of a sheath, already dreading what he'd see when he looked back at the girl

"JOSEPH!" Yang yelled, about to forgo waiting for Joseph's signal in favor of stopping this psychotic girl from trying to impale him. She didn't care if she ran the risk of exposing the string, she wasn't going to let this pint-sized psycho hurt one of her friends in addition to her sister!

 ***CLANG* *BZZTKRAACK***

However, just as she was about to charge the pink and brown haired girl once more, she was stopped when the target of her impalement grabbed blocked the blade with his bare palm just as she thrust it towards him, his entire arm now dancing with a white electricity.

"Gotcha!" Joseph growled, grabbing on and pulling back on the blade, sending the girl stumbling into his reach. Taking advantage of this opening, the Joestar wasted no time and sent a quick kick to the side of her head. It was a blow that lacked any real power, and as such, didn't do any real damage, but for a brief moment. It managed to disorient the girl slightly, and that was all he needed.

"NOW YANG! LIGHT HER UP!" Joseph yelled out, taking advantage of the girl's brief disorientation by rolling back onto his feet, grabbing her by the waist, heaving her overhead, and throwing her right into the center of where his string trap was set up before she could do anything.

"Alright, here goes nothing! **HAMON OVERDRIVE!** " Doing as Joseph told her, Yang began to let the hamon she accumulated into her body flow into the wool string as she pulled it backwards, with the girl right in the center of it all. However, the girl's smug expression didn't fade away from her face as this phenomena began to take place. Instead, just as the rope were at a length that surrounded her entire body, she got back onto her feet quickly and jumped high into the air just as the electrified rope shrunk around her, missing her entirely.

Oh dammit!" Yang groaned, watching in frustration as the girl jumped clear out of the range of the rope trap, apparently having caught on that both she and Joseph were planning something. Throwing the string to the ground in anger, the blonde brawler prepared to return to the basics and jump back into the fight, feeling as though they both wasted their time.

"HA! YOU FELL FOR IT, MORON!"

However, the triumphant tone in the mastermind of this scheme's voice seemed to imply otherwise.

Before Yang could ask what he was talking about, Joseph suddenly slammed his palm down onto the ground before his hamon began to radiate throughout his body.

" **RIPPLE SENDO OVERDRIVE!"**

And with that, a humongous surge of hamon came bursting through the ground in a geyser-like explosion underneath the girl, who was still in mid air as this all happen. Having not expected a second part to Joseph's plan, and with no way to change her trajectory now, the small girl's expression changed from one of smug satisfaction to pure panic as the wave of yellow energy engulfed her. If one payed close attention, then they'd notice how her eyes changed from brown and pink to pure white.

"Nice! Looks to me like the entire hamon went all the way in~! I bet the entire world is going by way too fast for you now!" Joseph remarked merrily as the girl twirled down to the ground with a dull ***THUD,*** likely as an aftereffect of his _**「**_ _ **Ripple Sendo overdrive.**_ _ **」**_ In addition to this, the direct blow she endured also meant that had large sparks of hamon radiating all over her body, leaving her stunned and discombobulated.

"Seems to me like you really underestimated the depths of my plans, girly." Joseph taunted, a victorious smirk on his face. "Didn't you notice all the signs? The fact that I was using a bright blue woolen string in the open? That I was barely trying to hide the string as I was setting it up? Or maybe the fact that I started chatting it up with Yang about my plan right in front of you!? I did all that on purpose with the express intention of you noticing and _**「**_ _ **making you think it was a crappy plan!**_ _ **」**_ It was all a ruse to trick you!" He boasted, thoroughly enjoying the look of utter shock on the now white-eyed girl's face before turning to a similarly shocked Yang, a confident expression on his face. **(3)**

"Well, Yang? Now's your chance. Why don't you take all that anger and frustration you're feeling towards this little psycho and help me finish her off with it?" The Joestar asked coyly, not even needing to look at the busty blonde to see the look of shock on her face quickly change to one of excitement and joy.

"Don't need to tell me twice! I'll be right with you the whole way through!" She confirmed gleefully, cracking her knuckles in anticipation of what was to come next.

"GOOD! Say, while we're here, why don't we try out that little technique I was telling you about during your last hamon lesson?" Joseph proposed, referring to the technique he informed Yang about during their last hamon lesson on the dorm roof. "You've still been practicing, right?"

"Yes and yes! I'm good to go when you are, good looking~." Yang smirked, cracking her knuckles as she did so.

"Nice! Now just remember what I told you and sync your breathing with mine!" The muscular brunette reminded, already beginning to control his breathing in wake of what came next. Nodding in confirmation, Yang began to control her breathing as well. When they were both certain that their breathing was just right, the two of them sprinted towards the still-stunned girl, ready to finish her off.

"THIS QUIVERING HEAT! MY PULSE IS POUNDING!" Joseph began, capping off this iconic boast with a brutal kick to the umbrella wielding girl's waist, leaving her mutely gasping for air and sending her back a step.

"I CAN FEEL IT! MY HEART'S RESONATING WITH HEAT AND LIFE!" Yang added in, following up Joseph's blow to the girl's face with a knee to her gut and two hamon filled punches, sending her back even further.

"NOW! TASTE THE RAZOR-SHARP BEAT OF OUR BLOOD!" The hotblooded Joestar finished, kicking the girl into the air and allowing the two of them to deliver their coup de grace.

" **KOOOOOOHHH…! SUNLIGHT YELLOW OVERDRIIIIIVE!"** The two hamon users screamed out in tandem, the both of them unloading a rippling barrage of fists onto the helpless girl.

When they both landed their final blows square on her face, the girl was then sent flying backwards into the wall of a nearby warehouse. The force behind the blow was so powerful that it spread cracks throughout the wall as she fell to the ground with a dull thud.

"Yikes… we really did a number on her, huh?" Yang asked, a bit surprised by the damage their _**「**_ _ **duel sunlight yellow overdrive**_ _ **」**_ did to the girl. It seemed that the power behind their attack was enough to break through her aura, if her heavily bruised and bleeding body was any indication. The girl's once pristine outfit was now covered in streaks of her own blood, her hair now looked bloody and greatly disheveled, with the once separated locks of pink and brown now mixing together haphazardly, and she looked at though she barely had the strength to get up. However, she still managed to do so after using her cane as a crutch, her right arm now hanging limp.

"Uh… yeah… I think we might've pissed her off a bit." Joseph noted upon getting a good look at the bloody girl's face. There were some streaks of blood running down her face, but it did little to hide the furious glare she was now giving the two of them, her previously white eyes now a shade of pitch black.

"NEO! HOP ON IN! WE'RE GETTING OUT OF HERE!"

Whatever the girl was planning to do next, however, came to a premature halt when the sound of a bullhead flying overhead surrounded them. Looking upward, Joseph saw Roman calling out from the ramp of the bullhead and gesturing for the bloody girl to get in.

In response, the now black eyed girl looked at the bullhead for a brief moment before looking back towards the hamon wielding duo to send one last glare that conveyed plenty of murderous intent right their way. And after that, she suddenly leapt backwards and somehow disappeared in a flash of bright light, now reappearing next to Roman at the bullheads ramp before slumping over onto his side. If one payed close attention, then they would see the dirtied professional thief helping his associate further into the aircraft before it's ramp closed shut and flew off, leaving only Joseph in Yang in this now-quiet section of the docks.

"Well… that was a thing!" The busty blonde said after a moment, her usual friendly smile now back on her face.

"Hm… you're taking her getting away like that pretty well." The brunette noted upon seeing that the easy-going smile on Yang's face had now made it's return. "I would've thought you'd be a bit more pissed with how crazy you were acting earlier."

"Can you really blame me? The freak blindsided my sister out of nowhere. She might be okay right now, but there was _no way in hell_ I was gonna let that slide." She retorted, rather annoyed with the brunette's remark, before the easygoing expression returned to her face and she began to stretch her arms. "But what can I say? Getting her with that 'sunlight whatever overdrive' kinda buttered me out. Besides, I'm more than satisfied with the beatdown we gave her."

"Yeah, I'll admit, that was pretty amazing. I was only told about that attack from my coach, Lisa Lisa. Never got the chance to try it out before I came here." Joseph admitted, having never felt such a rush of pure power running through his body before. You can say whatever you want about hamon, but when it all came down to it, it could be just as powerful as it was incredibly practical.

"Oh~? So you're saying it was your first time too?" Yang asked coyly, a playful tone in her voice. In response, the trickster of the Joestar bloodline merely scoffed before he responded, a smirk on his face.

"Yeah, seems like it. Guess it was a pretty amazing experience for both of us. Now, why don't we head back to the others and take a break, huh?" Joseph proposed, already beginning to head back to where the others should be, the sounds of fighting over there having now subsided.

"...Say, JoJo. Before we head back, I was hoping I could ask you something." The blonde began, causing the Joestar to look back at her with an impatient look on his face.

"Can't it wait? I'm tired and aching all over." Joseph groaned, rotating his neck around in a vain attempt to alleviate some of his stress. In response, a rather sly and amused smile appeared on Yang's face when she responded, apparently having found something about the current situation funny.

"It'll just take a second, so just humor me for a second." She insisted, causing Joseph to sigh in exasperation before speaking up once more. "Fine, just make it quick, will ya?"

"Wellll…" The busty blonde began, the amused smile on her face growing even more so. "I was just wondering, did you really mean it when you said my ass was shapely~?" She asked teasingly, causing Joseph to cough in surprise before he instinctively brought his left hand to the side of his face.

"Y-Yeah, so what if I did!? Seemed to me like it was the only way to get your goddamn attention while you were all red-eyed and crazy!" The Joestar responded heatedly, going out of the way to avoid looking at the incredibly amused blonde.

"Really now? You were trying to get my attention? Well I'll admit, if that's what you wanted, _then you certainly got it now."_ Yang said, the amused expression on her face shifting to a rather flirtful and provocative one as she passed by the flustered Joseph. **(1)**

' _Shit… didn't expect her to surprise me like that.'_ Joseph mentally groaned, bringing both his palms to his face before running the both of them through his brown mane. _'Innuendos and crappy jokes, I can handle, THAT, on the other hand… fuckin-A, I gotta learn to watch my big mouth.'_

* * *

"You sure you're okay, sis? Nothing hurts bad, right?" Yang asked her sister warily as she, Joseph, the rest of Team RWBY and Sun sat around on a set of wooden boxes while the police searched through the docks. While the two hamon users were stuck dealing with that strange-looking girl, it seemed that the combined force of Weiss, Blake, and Sun was enough to repel torchwick and his White Fang help in spite of Ruby's incapacitation. Now, the six of them just had to sit back and wait while until the police were to take them back to the station for questioning.

"Yeah, I guess I'm fine…" Ruby sighed as she leaned back against the wooden crate she was sitting against, adjusting her right arm slightly to make it more comfortable in the sling it was in. Once the paramedics that had been sent along with the police did a basic check-up on the silver eyed girl, it was revealed that her injuries were nothing too serious. The force of the blow that girl dealt her was so powerful, that led to her right arm being dislocated and a fracture along her shoulder blade. Fortunately, thanks to the appliance of modern medicine as well as aura healing, the young leader of Team RWBY would be back in action in within a week's time.

"But… well…" Ruby began again, hesitation clear in her voice. "C'mon, sis, you can tell me. What's wrong?" Yang asked, with a reassuring tone in her voice, wrapping her arm around her little sister's shoulder. In response, Ruby began shaking for a second before she threw herself into the blonde's arms, wrapping her her good arm around her tightly.

"...It's just…! It's just! I DON'T WANNA SKIP OUT ON COMBAT TRAIIINING!" She cried out, comically large tears running down her face. For next week, the weapon's enthusiast wouldn't be able to use her beloved Crescent Rose properly, which means she wouldn't be able to participate in any form of combat. In the book of Team RWBY's leader, that was the absolute worst kind of tragedy.

"Suck it up, you cry baby! Some of us actually have to fake being sick to earn that privilege!" Joseph dismissed, an annoyed tone in his voice, before he took off the various bits of jewelry he was wearing on his neck and began to peel off his crop top, exposing his shirtless, muscular body to the world and subsequently flustering Ruby, causing Blake to look at him with wide eyes, Yang to take in what she saw with a rather lecherous smile, causing Sun to feel rather inadequate, and Weiss to bring her hand to her mouth to cover her embarrassed blush.

"J-JoJo! What're you doing!?" Ruby demanded, clearly flustered as she looked away from him and brought her left arm to her face, a bright red tint on her cheeks.

"What's it look like? My shirt is drenched in sweat, dirt and blood from fighting for my life a few minutes ago. It's freakin' filthy and feels really gross to wear." Joseph explained, his tone making it sound as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Is there any reason why you couldn't have waited until we got back to the academy!? We're not the only ones here, you buffoon!" Weiss cut in heatedly, unconsciously bringing a hand to her mouth in an attempt to cover her own blush. In response to this, Joseph just gave the heiress a look that made it clear he couldn't care less about something like that before he sat back and closed his eyes, a content look on his face as he took in the refreshing sea breeze cooling off his battered and sweaty body.

"Welllll, I for one see no reason why he _shouldn't._ " Yang said, taking in Joseph's sweaty, tan, and muscular physique with a very broad grin on her face, rubbing her chin as she did so. "And besides, no reason to look a gift horse in the mouth, right Blake?" She continued, giving her partner a playful nudge on the shoulder. The reason why the blonde picked out Blake specifically was because she was currently taking in Joseph's... memorable figure with a wide eyed look, blood slowly oozing down from her nose.

"It's… profound. That's for sure." The cat faunus said numbly, looking at Joseph's figure for another moment before she wiped the blood off her face. In any case, as the conversation between the team continued, Sun, who had been quiet up to this point, noticed something rather curious on Joseph's shoulder that caught his attention.

"Huh. You know, if we're gonna be real, I would've thought a big guy like you would have more tattoos." Sun noted as he looked at Joseph's neck, causing the Joestar to look at him in confusion and the rest of team RWBY to look at himself curiously.

"Tattoos? What the hell are you going on about, man? I don't got any tattoos." Joseph asked, giving the monkey faunus a questioning look.

"Well, I'd believe you and all, but that _ **「**_ _ **green star**_ _ **」**_ on your shoulder kinda says otherwise." Sun rebutted, gesturing towards the brunette's left shoulder. In response, Joseph did his best to crane his neck back to try and see this alleged tattoo, and was quite surprised with what he found.

True to Sun's word, on Joseph's left shoulder, there was a _**「**_ _ **dark-green, star shaped marking**_ _ **」**_ that heavily resembled a tattoo. Intrigued by this sudden mystery tattoo, Ruby quickly moved behind the Joestar to get a better look at it.

"Whoa… cool! That's a really cool looking tattoo, JoJo! Where'd you get it?" The silver-eyed girl asked eagerly, impressed by the simple, yet solid and impressive design the star tattoo held.

"Nowhere, because I DIDN'T get it! I had no idea this thing was even on my shoulder until just now!" Joseph denied heatedly, unconsciously gripping onto the patch of skin where this tattoo was.

"You didn't even realize that you had a star on your shoulder until now?" Blake asked with a raised eyebrow. While Blake herself couldn't attest to looking at her shoulders very often, the idea of someone going through their entire life without noticing a fairly notable marking like that on their body was pretty strange.

"Of course! Who the hell goes out of their way to look at the back of their shoulder!?"

"It actually could just be some kind of birthmark." Wess suggested suddenly, taking a look at the green star herself. "If you are telling the truth, then that does seem like the most plausible explanation. Plus, that IS a rather strange shape for a birthmark to take. It could be something that runs in your family." She suggested, a thoughtful tone in her voice.

"Wow, you sure do sound like you know what you're talking about, Weiss." Ruby noted, surprised by the detailed explanation her partner had for what might or might not even be a birthmark.

"Please. Where did you think I got my ability to summon glyphs from?" Weiss asked rhetorically, a self-satisfied smile on her face. "It's an ability that's been passed on through the Schnee family's blood for generations on end. But in any case, perhaps that birthmark of yours is the same case, albeit in a much more mundane fashion. However... something like this would explain your strange abilities too." She continued, wondering if perhaps Joseph's stand was the same as her family's glyphs.

"Yeah, maybe," Joseph grunted dismissively, rolling his shoulders in a vain attempt to ease the tension there. "now if only this magic birthmark of mine got rid of all these goddamn bruises and aches!"

"Man, that girl must've really done a number on you especially since you're so bruised. Her attacks must've broken through your aura." Ruby noted, causing the Joestar to look confused for a moment before he realized what she was talking about.

"Oh yeah, 'Aura…' I kinda forgot about that whole thing, to be honest. Don't think I ever managed to get it unlocked either, now that I think about it." Joseph admitted, scratching his neck offhandedly as Team RWBY looked at him in surprise while Sun just gave him a perplexed look.

"Wait… you've been fighting all this time without an aura to shield you?" The monkey faunus asked curiously, causing the Joestar to nod his head in response. "Woah, that sounds pretty hardcore, man. Don't know how I'd manage to power through if I had nothing to soften the blows."

"Yeah, well, I have my ways of making a nice, speedy recovery, so it's no real biggie." Joseph assured Sun, letting a few sparks of hamon appear on his hand to get his point across.

"Well, either way, why don't we increase your options a bit? Any one of us could fix this little aura problem of yours here and now, you just gotta let us unlock it for you." Yang suggested with a smile, causing Joseph to look at her with raised brows.

"You guys and can do that?" Well, that was certainly convenient! And here, Joseph thought he was gonna have to go out of the way to contact Ozpin or Goodwitch and then go through whatever convoluted ritual was involved with unlocking one's aura.

"Yeah, it's easy! Here, I'll do it for you right now." Yang offered, taking a seat next to the muscular brunette and taking hold of his hand. Once she did so, the busty blonde began to let her aura flow into Joseph's body. "All you need to unlock your aura with help is to let someone else's aura go into your body while you concentrate. It's apparently supposed to set off some kind of chain reaction."

After Yang finished her brief explanation, everyone present watched in anticipation as Joseph did as she told him and began to concentrate. Considering how much of an odd case the Joestar was, considering he already knew a breathing technique that appeared quite similar to aura and possessed the strange enigma to them that was a stand, all of team RWBY was actually quite interested in what would happen when the trickster unlocked his aura. That being said, Sun just watched the unfolding spectacle with slight confusion, having not known much about Joseph aside from the fact that he was a pretty interesting guy.

 ***FWOOM***

However, the end result of this endeavor was rather surprising, to say the least.

"ARRGH!" Joseph yelled out in shock and pain as a purple and yellow shockwave suddenly imploded between himself and Yang, sending the both of them flying back in the opposite direction.

Yang, for the most part, had her own aura to protect herself from the brunt of the impact and merely skidded to a halt on the dock's concrete ground. Joseph, however, was not nearly as lucky, as he ended up crashing into one of the nearby crates that the six of them had been using as makeshift seats.

"Yang! Are you alright!?" Ruby asked in concern as she sprinted towards her toppled over sister, both Weiss and Blake right behind her. "Woah… talk about a light-show." Yang muttered as she sat back up, looking rather discombobulated.

"Shit… you okay, JoJo?" Sun asked as he helped the toppled over Joseph to his feet, having gone to do so while the rest of Team RWBY was helping Yang up. "Urgh… Dammit! That's the second time I've been sent flying tonight! Was my grandpa half-torpedo or some shit!?" He groaned as he staggered to his feet, clutching his head as the gash on it began to bleed once again.

"Heh, maybe! Wouldn't be the… craziest thing… to..." however, anything else he had to say at that point died in his mouth once he got a better look at the brunette's body and noticed something rather odd. "Uh… hey dude?"

"Hm? Yeah? Something wrong man?" Joseph asked once he took a few deep breaths, giving the monkey faunus a questioning look.

"Do… most people start sprouting vines out their body or is that just you?" Sun asked, looking at Joseph's body with a slightly concerned expression on his face. The brunette was about to ask what he was talking about when he looked down himself and saw _ **「**_ _ **Hermit Purple's**_ _ **」**_ thorny vines sprouting all over his shirtless body. It seemed that whatever happened when Yang tried to unlock Joseph's aura caused his stand to manifest as some kind of side effect.

"Oh, no, that's just me, bud. No worries though, that's a little 'special ability' I acquired." Joseph reassured Sun, letting the vines disappear from his body before he stomped over to Yang and the rest of her team, who had since managed to get back onto her feet.

"But what the hell was that supposed to be!? Not only did that little fireworks display send me flying, but I feel _absolutely nothing!_ " He yelled angrily, causing the girls to look at him in surprise.

"Nothing happened? Your aura didn't appear around you? You don't even feel better, lighter even?" Ruby asked, describing the same things that happened when she and most other people had their aura unlocked. While that explosion was rather strange, the four of them just thought it meant the Joestar just unlocked some kind of ancient power that had been latent within him all along. Perhaps the ability to summon the god of death? Or as the annoying people call it, the "shinikamigami…" or whatever it was called.

But what a stupid kind of idea that was! Joseph Joestar was perfectly capable without some kind of game-breaking power like that! If anything, Joseph would later reflect on today much later and be glad that he'd still be relying on his brains and skill to be beating his enemies. That was how he liked it.

"The only thing I _feel_ is even more shitty! No thanks to the fact that none of you fuckers warned me I'd be sent flying backwards!" Joseph accused heatedly, giving the all-girl team the evil eye for not bothering to warn him what would happen during this whole 'unlocking' process.

"Trust me, JoJo, I'm just as surprised as you are. I mean, your wounds aren't healing and you don't feel anything, right?" Yang asked, just to make sure they were all on the same page here. When Joseph nodded his head in response, the blonde continued, sounding even more confused. "I don't get it, why didn't your aura awaken? Anything other than that should've happened."

"Uh, I don't know if this helps clear anything up, but when I helped him to his feet, he had these purple vines sprouting out his body. Does that help explain anything? I mean, you guys probably know more about this than me, afterall." Sun added in. As far as he knew, those vines appeared to be some kind of semblance, but the way Joseph called them a 'special ability' rather than a semblance gave the blonde faunus some food for thought.

"That's really weird. I thought everyone could get their aura unlocked. If that really is the case, then why can't JoJo do it too?" Ruby asked, bringing up the question that everyone in the group was currently wondering.

"Maybe… maybe it's because you just CAN'T unlock an aura." Blake added in suddenly, causing everyone's attention to be brought to her.

"'I can't'? What do you mean 'I can't?'" Joseph asked, looking at the black-haired faunus questioningly.

"Well, we don't know enough for anything to be set in stone, but if I had to guess, maybe this 'stand' ability of yours is preventing you from unlocking your aura." Blake explained, the expression on her face growing more thoughtful by the second. "I mean, your stand DID appear when Yang tried to unlock your aura, so I can only assume that there's some kind of connection…"

"Man, really? Talk about a waste of time." Joseph groaned before he shrugged his shoulders. "Well, whatever. I didn't need a stupid handicap like aura anyway. My stand, hamon, and the fact that I'm a goddamn genius more than makes up for it."

"Mmm-hmm. You keep stroking that ego of yours. I'm sure it'll lead to great things for you." Weiss said disinterestedly, checking the dust cylinders on her sword as she said this. Now that this brief stint of excitement had worn down, the others followed in her example as well, just trying to relax until the authorities said they could go. After another moment, however, Blake realized that they were actually short a person.

"Uh… hey guys. I just realized something…" She began, looking around the docks for any sign of what she was looking for. "...Where's… where's that Penny girl?" She asked, causing Joseph to look at her in surprise.

"What? Penny was here? When!?"

* * *

 **(Much later this same night. Beacon tower…)**

 **Queen has pawns…**

' _This is exactly what I was afraid of…'_ Ozpin thought to himself, looking at the message he received on his scroll with an unreadable expression on his face. The headmaster of Beacon was actually preparing to make a very important call on his tablet when he received this message from Qrow, and to say it troubled him would be a bit of an understatement. _'Still, before anything else, I need to make this call.'_

The implications that this message held boded nothing well, but before anything else, it was very important that Ozpin make this call. It was a call to an old acquaintance that James introduced the headmaster a few months back during a visit to Atlas. That being said, while the two of them only met a few months ago, he was actually quite familiar with the goals this man and his organization strived towards far before their meeting.

Since he held such a firm grip in the many matters and problems that plagued Remnant, Ozpin was well aware of this man's organization and how it strived to protect the world from terrors completely separate from that of the Grimm and… _**her**_. The man himself wasn't quite an official member of the gray-haired man's inner-circle, but nevertheless, he was held in very high regard by both James and himself, and he knew that if worst came to show, he could be considered a trusted ally in the coming times.

With all this in mind, it caught Ozpin very much by surprise when he found out about how this man's family and his organization were both connected to the Joestar family.

Now that he finally found out about this man's potential significance to the hot-headed youth he was housing in his academy, it was of the utmost importance that they get into contact and meet face-to-face as soon as possible. The 'queen' and her 'pawns' were still very high on the priorities list, but it was important that Ozpin get this out of the way as soon as possible.

' _The queen and her pawns can wait. If this is what I think it is, then it needs to be tackled as soon as possible. I'd much rather prefer to have my flanks secured on the threat I know very little about before I work on the one I know_ _ **all too well.**_ _'_ And with this thought now fresh on his mind, the headmaster began to dial the required number and waited for the signal to connect.

" _Hello there, you have now reached the Atlas headquarters of the_ _ **「**_ _ **Speedwagon metal processing corporation.**_ _ **」**_ _How may we help you?"_ Came the female voice of a secretary, rattling off what was likely a scripted line she had to say to every caller.

"Yes, hello there, this is headmaster Ozpin of Beacon academy. I'm calling with some rather urgent business I'd like to share with Mr. Speedwagon himself. Could you please put me on the line with him if he's currently available? If he's not, then could you tell me when would be the best time to call back?" Ozpin asked politely, already planning out what he would say to the corporation's CEO as the secretary let out a gasp of surprise.

"THE professor Ozpin!? O-Oh my. Of course, I'll put Mr. Speedwagon on the line right away!" The secretary said hastily before she put Ozpin on hold. The headmaster waited for a few moments before another he heard someone pick up their phone and speak up.

"...I'll admit, the last thing I was expecting to receive tonight was a call from you, Ozpin. Not that it's a bad thing, of course." A masculine voice on the other end of the line began, an affable tone in his accented voice. "In any case, it's good to hear from you. How are you doing?"

"I'm doing quite well, thank you Robert." Ozpin smiled. The headmaster of Beacon didn't have much time to get to know the head of the Speedwagon corporation when he first met him, but during that timespan, he grew to respect his observant and supportive nature, as well as the nature of his organization's true purpose. Quite frankly, if everything during this call went right, then Ozpin would be looking forward to speaking with him more in the coming weeks.

"Well that's just grand." The man said, a warm tone clear in his voice. However, his voice soon gave way to a more down-to-business tone as he continued. "...but all this being said, I'm sure you didn't go out of the way to contact me just so we could exchange pleasantries, did you?"

"As observant as ever, Robert. But you're right, so I'll just get straight to the point." Ozpin said as he leaned back into his seat and looked out of his office's large windows, taking in the view before he continued. "I understand this is on short notice, but some time soon, hopefully within the following weeks, I need you to come see me here at Beacon. I would delve deeper into why I need you here so soon, and what exactly we would discuss, but I feel that it's not safe to do something like this over the phone." Upon saying this, the headmaster continued to look out the window as he waited for a response. There was another moment of silence on the line before this "Speedwagon" character finally responded.

"You're right, this IS on rather short notice, Ozpin. Is… something the matter? Does it concern this "circle" of yours?" Speedwagon asked, skepticism clear in his voice.

"...Possibly… the exact details of this situation are actually outside my areas of expertise, but I believe your family knows more about it than I." The grey-haired man continued, making sure he worded everything he had to say correctly.

"...I see. So then this is a matter revolving around stands, is it? Or have more of the Pillar Men's old relics been found? If it's the latter, then Ozpin, please, I implore you to destroy them, whatever they may be, as soon as possible! I've heard the stories told by my grandfather and have seen their effects firsthand. Power like that in a world like this is dangerous if it falls in the wrong hands…" The head of the Speedwagon corporation urged. Now that Ozpin told him that his family would have more experience in these matters, the headmaster had his undivided attention.

"No, none of these relics you told me about have been reported to be found by any of my hunters. Rather… you see… for the past few months, I have been housing what appears to be a member of the _ **「**_ _ **Joestar family**_ _ **」**_ in my school…" Once Ozpin said this, the other end of the line went completely silent.

.

.

.

"...I understand. I'll book the first flight to Vale that's available. You're correct Ozpin, we DO have much to discuss." Speedwagon said after a moment of silence, his voice both calm and contemplative.

"Thank you Robert… I'd go into better detail right now if I could, truly, but it's better if I explain all this to you in person." Ozpin said, a small smile on his face. "I'll take your word for it, Ozpin. I'll see you within the week." And with that, the person on the other end of the line hung up, leaving the headmaster to his thoughts.

' _One thing just leads to another doesn't it?'_ Ozpin thought to himself, closing his eyes as he thought of all the information this search had bestowed upon him. Truth be told, something had been itching at the back of his head ever since he heard Joseph's full name. He could've sworn from the get-to that he heard the name 'Joestar' at some point during his career, but he just couldn't remember where and when.

It was only after searching through the Speedwagon corporation's main website and finding out that the corporation was established in memory of _**「**_ _ **Jonathan Joestar**_ _ **」**_ and his wife _**「**_ _ **Erina Pendleton**_ _ **」**_ that he remembered where he heard that name before.

As it turned out, Speedwagon's grandfather, Robert Edward O. Speedwagon the 1st was able to found this organization thanks to the rather hefty inheritance he received from Jonathan Joestar's will. An inheritance that was only increased when Jonathan's wife, another big receiver to this will, also perished in that boat accident, meaning anything she would've gained went to him. When Ozpin first met Speedwagon, he must've mentioned Jonathan Joestar at some point and he just couldn't remember.

' _And those stone relics… daggers, if I recall correctly. Does Joseph have an similar equivalent to them in his own world…? Yes, that has to be the case.'_ And of course, Ozpin couldn't forget about what led to him researching the Joestar family's history in Remnant, now could he? Upon hearing the Joestar mention some kind of stone object that sounded eerily similar to the relics Speedwagon was seeking out to destroy, the headmaster's curiosity had been piqued. Since CEO's family went back quite a ways in Atlas, he decided to seek out some kind of compendium that detailed the snowy continent's many noble families, hoping to find some kind of connection to either the Speedwagons or the Joestars, and lo and behold, he found what he was seeking through that book he found in the library.

' _Still… a visitor from another world whose family has_ _ **some**_ _kind of parallel history on Remnant…'_ It seemed as though that whatever kind of forces Jonathan Joestar was forced to confront all those many decades ago was still alive, and was beginning to make it's own advances. Now, it was his job as a protector to make sure this force's ambition's, whatever they may be, do not succeed.

' _Things are going to be much more complicated from here on out, aren't they? Or perhaps…_ _ **「**_ _ **bizarre**_ _ **」**_ _would be the better word for it…'_

 _ **-To be continued...**_

* * *

 **JoJo/RWBY Database**

 **Stands, semblances, and aura**

 **Unlike the inhabitants of the planet Earth, whose potential stand users are limited to those with an incredibly strong will and fighting spirit, any potential aura user on Remnanat also has the potential to unlock a stand. However, the reason why there is such a small quantity of stand users, and an even smaller amount of stand users that are also hunters, is because no individual can possess a stand in tandem with an aura and/or semblance.**

 **Essentially, one's stand is the true power of one's aura. It's a reflection of the user's psyche, personality, soul, and just what they're truly capable of. However, a person's stand MUST be awakened, whether it be from a near-death experience or** _ **「**_ _ **other means,**_ _ **」**_ **before their aura is unlocked. If they do, then they will only be able to harness a mere fraction of their true power, which is in fact a semblance.**

 **To further elaborate, semblances are only a mere glimpse of what that individual's true power would be if they had a stand. Because of this, many people who strive to become Remnant's protectors have their aura awoken as soon as possible are completely oblivious to the power they're throwing away in the process.**

 **That being said, having a stand is not without it's disadvantages, nor does simply having an aura and semblance not have it's own benefits. To put it bluntly, while stand users have powers that make semblances pale by comparison, they also don't have any aura to shield them or heal their wounds. Likewise, while semblance users will never be able to unlock their true potential in regards to their inner power, they are at least able to use their aura in tandem with their abilities. This fact grants both spectrums their strengths and weaknesses.(2)**

* * *

 **(3) I'm actually basing the Ripple Sendo Overdrive on how it's used in J Stars Victory: Vs. In that game, when Jonathan uses that move, he essentially homes onto his locked-on enemy, slams his palm into the ground, and out comes the eruption of Hamon wherever the enemy is. Also, in case you were confused on how Joseph's plan worked and my explanation in the actual chapter didn't suffice, let me try again here, this time with clarity! Joseph was deliberately making the entire setup for his trap obvious so Neo would catch on, that way, when she's jumping up into the air to avoid the string trap, that leaves her entirely open to a Ripple Sendo Overdrive from him. He was playing dumb so Neo would lower her guard.**

 **(2) H'YUP, JAUNEY BOY WON'T BE GETTING ANY STAND POWER OR "HIDDEN BLOODLINE TECHNIQUE," SORRY TO SAY!:D My mindset here is why fix what works perfectly fine on it's own? RWBY characters have their badass powers and weapons, JoJo characters have their STANDO POWER, and Jaune has… his… shield scabbard. Complicating all of that by making 'Joseph use Hamon along with aura' (which just seems kinda redundant, in my opinion.) or giving RWBY characters these convoluted stands when their semblances work just as well… seemed… kinda pointless:/**

 **(1) Huh… so this is what shame feels like ._.**

 **But yeah, being real here for a sec, I'm honestly kinda conflicted between Supernova (JosephXYang) or Fake Balls Of Steel (JosephXVelvet). I mean, on one hand, you got the perfect combo to create Josuke, but on the other hand… I can see Joseph being really sweet and cute with Velvet, and her getting flustered in response and just… moe~ ^_^**

 **So… I guess this would technically count as the end of Season 1 of this series, huh? I'm not gonna go off and say I never thought I would make it this far, but MAN, it's been close to a goddamn YEAR since I started this fanfic! Makes you wanna look back and reflect.**

 **And so, that closes this chapter. Hope this one's JoJo/RWBY database helped clear some stuff up regarding stands, auras and semblances. Anyway, like and favorite if you want to, but I love hearing what you all think about this story, especially if I managed to capture both RWBY's and JoJo's fighting style correctly, so feel free to leave me some nice, juicy reviews, whether they hold positive or negative content.**

 **Anyways, I'mma go now.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Hey there! Guess you could say this is the start of the "2nd season" of JJHH! Hope you all enjoy! Also, I know it's been a while, but if it makes you feel better, this chapter is about 60 pages long... So yeah!**

 **Disclaimer: Fuck disclaimers.**

 **Joseph Joestar: Hamon Hunter**

 **(A week before the beginning of the 2nd semester.)**

' _ **Well, that should be his airship…'**_ _Glynda Goodwitch thought idly as she stood at the airstrip's safezone, watching as the gigantic airship began to land. Earlier this morning, professor Ozpin told her to head to Beacon's pathway and to wait for an associate of his that was supposed to be arriving today. Once they touched base, the green-eyed instructor was supposed to bring him straight to Beacon Tower and into Ozpin's office, as they apparently had much to discuss._

' _**It's strange… this type of behavior is rather strange for professor Ozpin. He's never made me outright wait for an associate of his just so I can escort them to him. Usually, he just expects them to have the good sense to head towards the tall green tower.'**_ _Glynda thought as the ramps of the airship opened up, releasing a flood of people that were either transfers or exchange students for the Vytal festival. If she had to guess, then whatever the two of them had to talk about had to have a very important matter._ _ **'But… I suppose I should be grateful that it isn't James I'm dealing with here. I swear to god that man's sole purpose for existing is to give me a damn migraine.'**_

 _Pushing any and all thoughts of her headstrong… associate out of her head, the strict instructor began to look through the crowd of people, keeping a sharp eye out for anyone fitting the description she was given. She didn't have to search too long before someone standing at the entrance of the airship caught her eye._

' _ **Hmm… that seems to be him. He fits the description I was given to a tee...'**_ _Glynda thought, her mindset observant and slightly curious as she took in the man's appearance. Compared to all the teenagers he stood amid that all aspired to become Remnant's protectors, this man looked comparatively average. He boasted a conservative three-piece suit with a dark blue overcoat that went down to his ankles along and a dark-red tie that was topped off by the bowler hat on his head. As for his physical features, the suited man possessed a fair head of blonde hair that went down to his shoulders, indicating that it was a mullet, along with a broad and athletic build that was fairly similar to James'._

 _However, one thing that caught Glynda's attention in particular had to have been the slim weapon's case the man held in his right hand. It was a fairly strange sight because the man had the rest of his luggage on a trolley behind him, indicating some kind of personal attachment to whatever was in that case. However, what Glynda really considered to be strange had to have been the very idea that the head of a successful organization like the Speedwagon Foundation was using some kind of elaborate hunter's tool for fighting. Perhaps it was for self-defense? Regardless of it's purpose, however, there were more important matters to focus on currently._

' _ **So, that's the head of the Speedwagon corporation… interesting…'**_ _Glynda thought, a neutral expression on her face as she finished taking in the man's- or rather, Robert Edward O. Speedwagon the 3rd's, appearance and assets._

' _ **If what I've been told is true, then his work is arguably as important as what goes on in the inner circle.'**_ _With her observations finished, she began to approach Speedwagon, who was currently scanning the area with a curious look on his face. Before arriving at the pathway, professor Ozpin had taken the time to inform Glynda of the dapper man's credentials and how his work affected Remnant as a whole, and to say what she heard surprised her would be a bit of an understatement. While the blonde instructor had been told in the past that Remnant had threats to it beyond the Grimm and overambitious humans and faunus alike, she had never truly thought too hard about any of it until now. The thought of it still baffled her… ancient stone relics that could transform an average person into a bloodthirsty killing machine… simply baffling!_

 _In any case, deciding that she could answer any questions she had when she spoke to the man face to face, Glynda cast all these thoughts from her mind and continued walking. After a brief moment of looking, Speedwagon's eyes landed on the woman approaching him and his eyes lit up. Making sure to adjust his coat properly, he walked off the airships ramp and towards his newfound associate, holding out his hand for her once she was at arm's length._

" _Mr. Speedwagon, I presume?" Glynda questioned, wanting to confirm that this was indeed the man she was looking for before anything else._

" _Indeed I am! And is it safe to assume that you're Ms. Glynda Goodwitch? Ozpin's associate?" Speedwagon confirmed, his fairly deep and gravelly voice giving off an affable tone. Now that she was sure that this was indeed Ozpin's associate and guest, the blonde-haired instructor then took his hand and gave it a firm shake, a small smile creeping onto her face._

" _Yes, it's a pleasure to meet you in person, Mr. Speedwagon."_

" _The feelings mutual. I remember Ozpin telling me many good things about you and your exploits when we met in Atlas. You're quite the accomplished veteran huntress, aren't you?" Speedwagon complimented before looking towards the towering castle-like school that was Beacon academy._

" _Did he now? Well, that's a pleasant thing to hear." Glynda noted, slightly surprised that Ozpin spoke of her accomplishments as a huntress before the neutral expression returned to her face. "Now, I understand you're likely tired from the trip, Mr. Speedwagon, but the headmaster requested that I bring you straight to his office. In the meantime, I'll have a member of our staff bring your luggage to the teacher's living quarters."_

" _It's no trouble at all, Ms. Goodwitch," Speedwagon dismissed with a wave of his hand, following after Glynda. "I was actually hoping I could see Ozpin first opportunity. We both have many things to discuss."_

" _So I've heard." Glynda noted, taking a moment to glance back at Speedwagon before she brought her eyes back up front. Truth be told, she wasn't sure what to think of Ozpin's apparent decision to bring the man beside her into the inner circle. After so many years of working with him, she had come to expect and tolerate the headmaster's penchant for making rather rash decisions, (Ms. Rose's and Mr. Joestar's acceptance into Beacon being only one of many examples of this) but_ _ **this,**_ _this was an organisation that had a presence on Remnant for god knows how many years! Was it truly a wise decision to make Speedwagon privy, no matter his credentials, of the many things that were lurking on Remnant? She supposed she would just have to wait and see, because she knew damn well Ozpin wouldn't budge on matters like these once he made up his mind._

 _Of course, little did Glynda know that Ozpin had already taken the time to inform their guest of some of the more insidious forces within Remnant many years ago, and that his presence at Beacon mainly to focus on matters separate to them._

" _-as he told you?"_

 _It took Glynda another moment before she realized that Speedwagon was addressing her. Blinking, she looked towards her escortee and spoke up. "Pardon me? I didn't quite catch that."_

" _Ozpin. Has he told you about the goals that my company pursues?" The company CEO asked bluntly. "I figured we should just clear that up before anything else. So? Are you? I'm assuming that you're a member of that group Ozpin is in, correct?"_

 _Glynda appeared passive on the surface, but in her mind, she was reeling back in surprise. The headmaster already told this man of the inner circle!? Is he aware of the seasonal maidens too? What about the_ _ **queen**_ _and her pawns? Deciding she would simply get answers from Ozpin after the fact, the blonde instructor looked back at Speedwagon and answered his question. "Yes, the headmaster has indeed informed me of the various entities and items that your organization pursues and destroys."_

" _I see. And do you believe any of it?" Speedwagon asked curiously._

" _...I'll admit, I'm rather skeptical. I've been a huntress for a good portion of my life, and I can't say I've ever seen any of what your organisation has pursued." Glynda admitted, the expression on her face still passive._

" _Well, it seems like my employees have been doing a very good job then." Speedwagon chuckled before his face took on a more serious expression. "But, joking aside, there is a reason for that, Ms. Goodwitch…. Both vampires and stand users have something in common in the sense that there are both very few of them and that most prefer to remain out of the public eye."_

" _They do? Why is that?" Glynda asked, growing curious._

" _Well, in regards to_ _ **stand users,**_ _it's actually very difficult to meet the requirements necessary to unlock a stand. Not only must they be an individual with a very strong will and fighting spirit, but unless they're born with it or have access to more_ _ **artificial means,**_ _then their stand can only be unlocked through a near death experience, which would cause the stand to manifest in an effort to protect it's master! Not only that, but if one's aura has already been awoken, then that effectively locks that person out of becoming a_ _ **stand user.**_ _" Speedwagon explained to Glynda, listing off the requirements of becoming a stand user. "...because of this, most_ _ **stand users**_ _are far and few in between. Not only that, but in my experiences, most of the_ _ **stand users**_ _I've gotten reports of are content to just abuse their abilities for their own personal gain. Because of this, it is the job of my employees to seek out these nefarious_ _ **stand users**_ _and bring them to justice for their crimes."_

" _I see. And what do you do if these 'stand users' your organisation encounters aren't criminals?" Glynda pointed out, interested in the response she would get._

" _Well if that's the case, then we just leave them be." The ceo stated simply, causing Glynda's eyes to widen in surprise. Their answer to a problem such as that was something so simple? "We make sure to keep our tabs on them in case anything of note happens, but aside from that, we make a point to stay out of their lives. We'd be no better than most bigots out there if we made a point to alienate people based on their abilities alone."_

" _I'll admit, I'm quite impressed. I didn't think you'd have such a detailed understanding of the workings of your organisation." Glynda complimented, admittedly surprised. While she knew it was presumptuous to make assumptions about people she hadn't even met, the blonde instructor hadn't expected Speedwagon to be so aware of everything that was going on in his company. Considering he was the third member of his family in line to inherit such a large and well-off organisation, she halfway expected him to be a spoiled and pampered fool. However, this current interaction seemed to be proving her previous assumptions quite wrong._

" _Yes, well, I guess you could say I'm very invested in my work. It's a marvellous feeling to know that the things you're working towards are improving the lives of many people." The blonde-haired man explained, a proud smile on his face as he thought of the legacy he inherited from his father and grandfather. Ever since he was taught about the inner workings of the Speedwagon Corporation and how it was an organisation that strived towards a better understanding of the paranormal and how to protect the people of Remnant from it's more malevolent forces, the third generation in the Speedwagon bloodline had been very passionate about carrying on the torch. It was just a wonderful feeling to know that your work actually made a difference in the grand scheme of things._

" _I can imagine you can understand the feeling, right? Not only are you a huntress and an educator to all the youths that'll protect this world, but if what I'm told is true, then you're a member of a group that's existed for countless years with the sole purpose of maintaining peace. It must be wonderful, knowing that your work goes such a long way in helping people." Speedwagon asked suddenly, giving the stoic instructor a serene smile. In response, Glynda could only look at her escortee with widened eyes, having not expected to hear something like this. Just how much did Ozpin tell this man when they met in Atlas!?_

" _Just… how much did professor Ozpin tell you about our group when you both met?" Glynda asked skeptically, her eyes narrowing once her shock wore down._

" _Oh, well, only the bare essentials, really. That he was an important figure in a very important group and how he was considering vouching for James' inclusion in it. He also told me that the work done in this group goes a long way in helping the people of Remnant." Speedwagon listed off simply before giving Glynda a curious look. "Why do you ask? Is something wrong?"_

 _Upon realizing that she was likely just being overly-paranoid, Glynda let out a tired sigh before responding, an apologetic tone in her voice. "No, nothing. I apologize for my tone. It's just that being skeptical is kind of second nature to me…"_

" _Skeptical, huh? Can't say I've ever had room for something like that in my line of work." Speedwagon chuckled, making it clear that he took no offense from Glynda's words. "However, I don't think you answered my earlier question. Do you have an answer for me?"_

 _It took Glynda a moment before she remembered Speedwagon's question regarding how she felt about her work. After taking a moment to dwell on his earlier words, the blonde instructor gave her answer._

" _Well… in regards to whether I find my work fulfilling considering what I do, I do believe I understand what you're saying." The blonde instructor admitted, looking forward as they still continued towards Beacon Tower. "I'll admit that I am hard on the students here, but that's only because I know they're casting a heavy burden onto themselves. Once they graduate, they will become Remnant's main line of defense against the creatures of Grimm, and in the many years of my career, I've come to understand that a job such as this often ends in sacrifice." As Glynda continued with her explanation, she couldn't help but feel oddly… relaxed. It was as though a heavy weight was being lifted from her chest the more she spoke. She had to admit, it felt quite pleasant. Spoking of her thoughts concerning her job at Beacon was admittedly quite liberating._

" _So long as they don't stray from the path of righteousness, then all of the students in this school are going become the men and women that will protect the lives inhabiting Remnant, and it's my job to make sure that they're the best of the best. I'm well aware that not everyone is a selfless individual, and I'm not going to pretend that some of the students here might not be good people… but knowing that a good chunk of the children in this school have come here to genuinely help people, and that I'm helping them fulfill a selfless goal such as that…" Glynda trailed off, looking down to the side briefly before she looked back towards Speedwagon, a rare smile on her face. "I'll admit… it's a pleasant feeling."_

" _I couldn't have said it better myself, Miss Goodwitch…" Speedwagon said, an amused smile on his face as he flicked his bowler hat upward. From then on, they didn't have too long to go before they reached the elevator that would take them up Beacon tower. Without a word, the two of them stepped through the sliding doors and waited as the elevator began it's long ascent. Speedwagon remained quite, still thinking of what he and Ozpin were to discuss, while Glynda looked as though she still had something to say._

" _I actually forgot to ask you, now that I think about it…" The green-eyed instructor began, looking back towards her blonde-haired associate. "You gave me a good deal of information about_ _ **stand users**_ _and how your organisation handles them, but I don't recall you mentioning anything regarding those… 'vampires.'" She said with some slight reluctance. It was a strange mindset, considering her occupation and knowledge of some of the world's more mystical concepts, but the idea of something as absurd as vampires actually existing was still a difficult pill for Glynda to swallow. Still, she was aware that keeping an open mindset here was important, so that was exactly what she was going to do._

 _In response to hearing this, Speedwagon looked away from Glynda for a moment, a difficult to read expression on his face, before he responded, his tone serious._

" _Well… to start everything off, I think it's safe to say that vampires could very well be the biggest danger to ever walk on Remnant in a worst-case scenario." The blonde man stated bluntly, well aware of the shock he would likely get from his newfound associate for making such a bold claim._

" _That's… quite the bold claim you're making there, Mr. Speedwagon…" Glynda remarked, eyes widening slightly upon hearing how dead serious Speedwagon sounded when he made this claim._

" _I can understand if you find something like this hard to believe Miss. Goodwitch, especially considering your occupation, but please, just hear me out for a moment." The dapper man assured her. "Essentially, with the research we've gathered so far, we've found that most vampires are created either through blood contamination, or after a normal human being or faunus has been pierced with_ _ **an ancient ceremonial dagger made of stone.**_ _" He explained, taking a deep breath before he continued._

" _With blood contamination, it's a fairly straightforward matter. If any living being, be it humans, faunus, or animals, gets their body contaminated with the blood of a vampire, then they too will join their ranks as a night-walker. However, most vampires are created via the latter method."_

" _But how, though? How is it that this dagger can turn any normal being into a vampire?" Glynda questioned, her curiosity rising with each passing second._

" _It's because of the substance that's generated within the dagger." Speedwagon answered. However, this answer only caused his escort to look at him in confusion. "To elaborate, my corporation has had the benefit of recovering several of these stone daggers intact. Before we made sure to destroy them, I had my research division take those daggers apart to see what exactly they're made of and how they work… and what we found was… disturbing… to say the least."_

" _How it transforms a living being into a vampire is simple. If any part of the stone dagger comes into contact with blood, then a small slit at the tip of the dagger will open up and start spilling out a strange, black substance. The moment this substance comes into contact with a living being's blood, it acts like a poison and kills the subject, only for them to come back to life moments later as an inhuman monster… and the worst part of it is, we still haven't been able to find out what exactly this substance is, either. Despite the best efforts of my research division, we haven't been able to gather any concrete answers regarding the dagger or the substance it produces, only theories for now..." He continued, the serious tone in his voice never hearing all this however, a new question made it's way into Glynda's head._

" _Mr. Speedwagon…" She began, causing Speedwagon to look back at her. "If you don't mind me asking… HOW exactly do you know all this information…? You wouldn't happen to have used these daggers on living people,_ have you?" _The narrowing of her eyes and the tone in her voice made it all too clear that Glynda found Speedwagon's detailed knowledge of vampires to be suspicious._

" _WHAT!? Of course not! I would never let my company stoop to such inhuman methods! We'd be no better than the monsters we seek to destroy!" Speedwagon exclaimed, an offended and shocked look on his face._

" _Of course. My apologies, Mr. Speedwagon, I didn't mean to offend you." Glynda apologized quickly, a neutral expression clear on her face as she continued. "However, if that is indeed the case, then how do you know all this information?"_

" _I've simply compared notes with what I've seen firsthand and from the documents from my father and grandfather. My grandfather himself saw the transformation of a vampire firsthand, in fact! The idea of doing something so vile to another person would just send chills down my spine!" Speedwagon explained with a huff, an indignant expression all too clear on his face._

" _I see. And just how do you deal with any vampires found? What if they aren't hostile, or don't hold any malicious intent? Then what do you do?" Glynda questioned further, her suspicion now gone, with only curiosity in it's wake._

" _If there truly are any vampires out there that aren't hostile, Ms. Goodwitch, then I've yet to meet any…" Speedwagon chuckled mirthlessly. "Turning into a vampire is rarely an accidental process. It requires a knowledge distinct knowledge of the stone dagger's capabilities and potential. All the vampires I've seen and heard of so far have all been nothing but scum that are content to gleefully stomp over those weaker than themselves to acquire power. I myself have had a few encounters with vampires in my lifetime, and every single one of them were evil beings that smelled like stagnant puke."_

" _I'm sorry…? You said they… smelled?" Glynda repeated, not quite sure if she heard Speedwagon correctly. What in the world would the 'smell' of these vampires have to do with anything? In response to hearing this, a rather sheepish expression came across Speedwagon's face as he scratched the back of his head, unsure of how he should word this._

" _Ah, well… this is going to sound rather strange, I have a rather… how should I put this... 'distinct' ability that seems to run in my family."_

" _I see. Do you mean like a semblance of some kind?" The blonde instructor pressed, her curiosity growing with each passing second._

" _Not… exactly. I've had this ability even before I awoke my aura, so I think that rules out the idea of it being aura-related. To put it in layman's terms, I can essentially judge a person's personality and moral integrity through how they 'smell.'" Speedwagon attempted to explain, hoping that his explanation didn't come off as needlessly complicated._

" _So… how exactly does it work then?" Glynda asked simply, slightly skeptical of what she was hearing._

" _If I had to describe it, it's almost like I'm smelling someone's personality. It doesn't matter if somebody who's absolutely vile coated themselves with a top of the line perfume after cleaning up, to me, they'd still smell completely rancid." A moment after saying this, he said something else as an afterthought. "Truth be told, it's part of the reason why I'm so willing to trust Ozpin on this matter."_

" _It is?" Glynda asked, clearly surprised by what she was hearing._

" _Yes, it is. This ability of mine works the other way around as well. When I first met Ozpin in Atlas, he had a very 'natural' and 'fresh' smell to him. It was quite the contrast from most of the Atlas military officials I met, James especially, who had a rather… 'distinct' smell to them." Speedwagon trailed off, his uncomfortable grimace not going unnoticed by a now very intrigued Glynda._

' **Okay, now this, I have to hear.'** _Glynda thought, her interest now piqued. "'Distinct?' In what regard, exactly?" The green eyed huntress asked, unable to stop the amused smirk that was beginning to grow on her face._

' _Oh no! Don't get me wrong, Ms. Goodwitch!" Speedwagon said quickly, a slightly flustered tone in his voice. "James Ironwood is by no means 'a foul smelling person!' He's quite clean in that regard! It's just that… well… if I had to sum up what I smell whenever he's around… then… well… have you ever smelled a car when it comes straight out of manufacturing?"_

" _Yes. They smell rather sterile yet at the same time chemically saturated as well, correct?" Glynda answered before she realized that implications of Speedwagon's question. "Wait… so you're saying that James'...?" She trailed off, her amused smirk broadening._

" _Yes. Take the smell of a brand-new car, magnify it by 50, and you've got the smell of James Ironwood in a nutshell." Speedwagon answered with a shudder. While he did truly respect and trust James, he also couldn't deny he fought the urge to gag every time they met up. Looking back on it, the blonde supposed that probably said a lot about James' character._

 _Upon hearing this, Glynda was unable to stop herself and began to laugh lightly. She normally didn't let many things she found "funny" phase her, hearing something like this just kind of struck a nerve with her._

" _Hmhm… that's actually quite amusing… as well as fitting."_

"' _Fitting?' In what regard?"_

" _Well, let's just say 'new car smell' truly does sum up James Ironwood to a tee. Your sense of smell is quite accurate." Speedwagon wasn't quite sure what to make of that comment, but didn't bother to press the issue, for not long after Glynda made that comment, the elevator let out a loud_ _ ***BEEP***_ _indicating that they reached their desired floor._

" _Well, looks like this is our stop. It looks as though we'll have to continue this conversation at a later time." Glynda noted, the neutral expression returning to her face as the elevator doors opened up, revealing the headmaster of Beacon's extravagant office._

" _Yes, of course." Speedwagon agreed, following the blonde instructor into the office, taking in it's unique and beautiful design as he did so._

 _Instead of some run-of-the-mill standard office to work in, Ozpin's inner sanctum had a much more… extravagant design to it. The incredibly high ceiling of the room had a series of large and imposing cogs that slowly spun around, their overall purpose unclear. Along with this, a strange, dull green light was what provided most of the room with it's illumination, giving the entire office a strange yet comforting ambience to it. Finally, at the other end of the room was Ozpin's desk and chair. Both of these pieces of furniture featured the same gear-motif that that the entire room held and were both stationed near a gigantic window that doubled as the other side of the room's wall. Since Ozpin's office was in such a high tower, it gave the occupant of the desk a wondrous view of the surrounding landscape. Said occupant currently turned from this view to look towards Speedwagon, a welcoming smile on his face._

 _Robert, it's been far too long since we've last met. How are you doing?" Ozpin greeted, using the tea kettle he brought out for guests to pour the both of them a cup of coffee._

" _Fairly tired, but at the same time excited! What you told me during that call has left me anticipating this trip to Vale greatly… and I won't deny the warm weather is nice either." Speedwagon answered, eagerly taking the mug and downing it's contents in one go._

" _Yes, the weather is quite pleasant this time of year." Ozpin chuckled, taking a sip out of his own mug. "However, I don't mean to keep you waiting, especially since you went out of the way to clear your schedule and come to Vale, so let us delve right into the heart of this matter, shall we?"_

" _Of course. Shall we start at the beginning?" Speedwagon asked, listening intently to Ozpin as he took a seat._

" _Yes well, it all began like this. Before the beginning of last year's semester, the young man in this picture suddenly made his presence known to us one night in downtown Vale." Ozpin explained, sliding his scroll over to Speedwagon so he could get a good look the picture it had on display. "He didn't have any form of weapon training, nor did he even have a weapon to begin with, but he was still able to fight off several armed robbers using an energy that he refers to as 'hamon.' He claims it is some kind of breathing technique that utilizes solar energy, making it very potent against the_ _ **creatures**_ _your organisation hunts down."_

" _When I had a chance to speak to him in person at the nearby police station, he said his name was Joseph Joestar… and that he was from another world…" Ozpin paused for a moment before he let out a sigh and continued. "I apologize Robert. I wasn't privy to your family's connection to the Joestar family… why, I had to do some research myself before I realized that there even was a Joestar family on this world too. If I had known of this sooner, I would've contacted you about this matter straight away. I'm sorry…" It was all a rather foolish matter in retrospect. To think that a respected colleague such as Robert had connections to this young man's family… at least… this world's version of his family. It was just a shame that he hadn't known more about the Speedwagon family's history. If he did then they could've gotten this entire issue over with much sooner._

" _It's no problem. It was quite some time ago since we first met and I only mentioned the Joestar family in passing, so you couldn't have been aware… but still... this is amazing!" Speedwagon breathed out in awe, looking at the picture of the tan brunette with an astonished look on his face. "Yes… the resemblance is uncanny. The hairstyle and color is different, but if you changed that and wiped that cocky smirk on his face, then this young man looks exactly like Jonathan Joestar, the same man my grandfather aided all those many years ago!"_

" _Yes, well… the funny thing about that is he might very well be Jonathan Joestar's grandson." Ozpin explained, ignoring the astonished look on Speedwagon's face as he continued. "You see… during our first conversation, I recall him mentioning his grandfather, and that his name was Jonathan Joestar. The same man whose inheritance allowed your own grandfather to start the Speedwagon Corporation."_

" _...And you're saying he claims to be from another world…?" Speedwagon asked slowly, Ozpin having got his full attention now._

" _Well, perhaps parallel dimension might be the better word for it, but yes, that is what he claims. Considering he didn't exist in any kingdom database before I met him, I see no reason to doubt his words."_

" _Well, I'll be damned…" The blonde man sighed, giving the picture of Joseph another glance before he continued. "I haven't even been here for an hour and I'm already feeling overwhelmed by what you're telling me."_

" _I'm afraid it only gets crazier from here, Robert. Especially since these matters revolving around the Joestar family aren't the only reason why I requested to see you." Ozpin admitted, causing his blonde associate to look at him in confusion._

" _It's not? Well in that case, what else did you need to-" As soon as Speedwagon realized what the headmaster was referring to, he stopped. His expression then shifted from confusion to one of understanding before he continued. "Wait. It's rather obvious now that I think about it. I'm going to assume that you wish to discuss the matters going on in this 'inner circle' of yours?"_

" _Professor, are you… certain this is a wise idea?" Before Ozpin could respond, however, the sound of Glynda's apprehensive voice caught the attention of the two men. "While I have nothing against Mr. Speedwagon, I can't help but find the idea of divulging… such sensitive information on a whim like this to be quite risky."_

" _Worry not Glynda. I assure you that I've put much thought into this decision." The grey-haired headmaster assured her._

" _Hold on a moment, Headmaster."_

 _However, before Ozpin could begin his explanation, his guest spoke first. "Before you begin any form of explanation regarding this inner circle of yours and it's problems, I must ask you. Are you hoping to get my aid in exchange for this information?"_

 _As soon as these words left Speedwagon's mouth, a period of silence filled the world which was only broken by the periodic ticking of the gears above. Ozpin still hadn't said a word, Glynda was merely watching the unfolding events intently, and Speedwagon just looked at his associate with a questioning gaze. However, after another moment that felt like an hour, the silence was finally broken when Ozpin let out a breath through his nose. This seemed to have signaled that he finally knew what to say, if the fact that he finally spoke soon after was any indication._

" _Robert… I think you must know. We are currently at a time of peace, a time of happiness despite all the current problems this world faces. Communications between continents is both easy and simple to achieve, each of the four kingdoms' capitals have been thriving, and food, jobs, and dust have all been available for the people. For the most part, the general public has been happy, positive, if I may." As Ozpin continued his explanation, he leaned back into his chair, his neutral expression giving way to a tired and conflicted one. "However, there have been cracks. The seams have begun to break apart. I hate to say it, but some time soon, I believe this peace is going to be shattered. If the public catches wind of the true gravity of the current situation, that will no doubt bring plenty of negativity, and we all know what negative emotions bring, don't we?"_

" _The information I'd like to inform you of is heavily interconnected with the current state of the world as well as it's future… and the reason why I wish to inform you of this is because I'd like your aid against it." Ozpin explain, leaning back against his chair. "My main purpose for calling you here was indeed to inform you of Joseph Joestar, Robert. I had no intention of withholding this information in exchange for your cooperation. However, for some time now, I have known that you are a level-headed and selfless man with his morals intact. You're a man who's grounded in reality, despite the bizarre nature of your profession. I understand that I am asking a lot of you, but I believe we would benefit heavily if we received help from a man such as yourself. Do you trust me…?" After this, a rather poignant silence stuck in the air before the blonde man began his response._

" _...You don't have to worry, Ozpin. The moment we met in Atlas, my family's ability made it clear that were, and still are, a just man that truly values humanity, and I don't see any reason to doubt it now. Whatever you tell me here I shall take to my grave, and along with this, I will offer my corporation's support in whatever way I can." Speedwagon confessed, flicking his hat upwards slightly._

" _Alright, good. There's just one thing I need to hear, however." Before Ozpin could begin with his explanation, he needed to confirm this. "The information I am about to reveal to you is of the utmost importance. I am not being melodramatic when I say it's world-changing information. I need to hear you swear that what I tell you stays between us as well as any members of the group I am in. Do you agree to this?"_

" _Yes. I swear to you that I will keep the secrets you reveal to me here. Anything you reveal to me, I will take to my grave." The moment Ozpin heard those words, a relieved and grateful smile crept onto his face._

 _Thank you, Robert. Truly. Now… to start everything off, I think we should start at the beginning. This all begins many, many years ago, with four maidens, and an entity that calls herself…_ _ **'Salem.'"**_

* * *

 **(Vale shopping district. 3 days before the beginning of the new semester.)**

' _Ah~... If there's one thing that I adore about Vale over Atlas, it HAS to be this wonderful weather.'_ Weiss thought to herself, a serene smile on her face and eyes closed as she took in the wonderful morning breeze. After enjoying the refreshing yet warm breeze on her face for another moment, she felt someone nudge her shoulder, bringing her back to reality. Opening her eyes, the heiress saw Blake looking at her with a questioning gaze on her face before she spoke up.

"I've never seen you zone out like that before. Are you alright?" The black haired faunus asked, looking at her friend with a slightly curious expression on her face.

"I-I'm fine! I just wanted to enjoy the morning breeze for a moment! What's wrong with that!?" Weiss asked defensively, instinctively crossing her arms as she did so. All this time she spent at Beacon must've taken some of the edge off her. She wouldn't have been caught dead doing something like that back home! (Not that the weather would've allowed it in the first place, mind you…)

"Nothing, but can you pick up the pace a bit? We're almost there. Tukson's bookstore is just around the corner." Blake answered simply, looking ahead once more and moving on. Upon hearing this, Weiss quickly picked up her pace, a confident expression on her face.

"Perfect, and you're sure this shopkeeper of your has what I'm looking for?" Weiss asked, wanting to confirm this with her black-haired teammate one more time. While she had been spent a good amount of her break just enjoying her time with her friends and studying, the heiress had also taken plenty of opportunities to search through the Beacon library and some bookstores scattered throughout Vale to find one tome in particular, all of which ending up yielding similarly disappointing results. This shop keep friend of Blake's was kind of her last option before she would just have to resort to buying a copy of this compendium from out of the kingdom.

"Well, since you haven't bothered to tell me what it is that you're looking for, I can't say for certain, but Tukson's a pretty avid book collector. If anyone's got this book you're looking for, it'll be him." Blake answered, taking a moment to look back at Weiss. "His store is where I've bought most of my books from since I arrived in Vale, so I can vouch for him…" She added as an afterthought.

"Well, it's not the end of the world if it's not there, I can always order it from out of the country, but it'd certainly be more convenient." It was at this point, upon noting how fixated Weiss seemed to be on getting this book she was looking for, that Blake grew curious. What exactly was she trying to find in this book, anyway?

"In retrospect Weiss, you never did tell me what exactly it is that you're looking for here. Why is that? And for that matter, why were you so adamant that I tag along?" Blake asked, finally bothering to get an answer from the heiress about her sudden bout of strange behavior for the past couple of days.

"Well, to put it simply, I'm looking for a compendium that goes over the many noble families that have risen and fallen in Atlas." Weiss answered without hesitation.

"Why are you looking for something like that? Last time I checked, professor Oobleck didn't give us any assignments for the semester break." Blake said, her brow raised in curiosity. Why was Weiss looking for something like this? Was she just interested in what this book had written about her family?

"No, Blake. I'm not trying to get this compendium for learning purposes. It's more along the lines to satisfy my curiosity."

"Alright... and what exactly is it that's been gotten you so curious…?"

"Well… this is going to sound rather strange, but it's actually about Joseph." The heiress explained, causing her feline friend to stop dead in her tracks. Looking back at her, Weiss saw Blake looking at her with wide-eyes and a clearly surprised expression on her face.

"...You mean… Joseph?"

"Yes, I do."

"Joseph JOESTAR?"

"Yes, Blake, I am indeed referring to that specific Joseph."

"The same Joseph that we see on a daily basis at Beacon?"

"Yes, Blake. The very same person." Weiss sighed in annoyance, pinching the bridge of her nose in an attempt to calm down. Was this really such a strange thing to be doing? All she wanted to do was answer some questions about Joseph that had been pricking at the back of her head for awhile now, and Blake was treating it like a sign of the coming apocalypse!

"Okay, I understand that, but… why the sudden interest?" Blake asked bluntly, not bothering to mince words with this topic. "From what I've seen, Joseph does a pretty good job of getting on your nerves, so why are you searching for information regarding him like this? And for that matter, why do you think you'll find what you're looking for in a book about Atleasian noble families?"

In response to this barrage of questions, Weiss paused, looking to the side for a moment as she thought of what to say, before looking back towards her faunus teammate. "Well, I think the only way to properly answer your questions is if I ask you one of my own." The heiress stated, a matter-of-fact tone in her voice.

"Alright, and what exactly is your question?" Blake asked, crossing her arms.

"You've also noticed that there's something very strange about Joseph Joestar, haven't you?" She stated, looking at Blake expectantly.

"What?" Blake said, having not expected a response like this from Weiss. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Come now Blake. I'm well aware that you prefer to stay quiet and observe, and as such, you've more than likely noticed that the many strange things about Joseph. Why, I bet you've even picked up on them before I have!" Considering how observant Blake was, she had to have picked up on the same things she saw regarding Joseph.

"What exactly are you talking about here, Weiss? You need to be more specific."

"Everything about him, that's what I'm talking about! His fighting style, the way he dresses, his mannerisms, the fact that he can't have his aura awoken, and those constant slip-ups of his!" She said, listing the many strange things about Joseph that made him stand out so very often.

"'Slip-ups? Like what?"

"Well, one example that comes to mind is _**the fact that he didn't even know what a faunus was until we informed him of it."**_ Weiss stated with narrowed eyes, referring to the day he confronted Cardin's team in the dining hall. There were still plenty of suspicious things about him beforehand, but that event in particular cemented the heiress's suspicion that there was something off about Joseph Joestar.

"Everything Joseph does is just so completely foreign, like nothing I've ever seen before. It's almost like he's been ripped out of another era and thrown into this one! With all this in mind, I can say with certainty that there's something important going on revolving around Joseph, and I intend to find out what."

"Okay, I get all that, and I can't even say you're wrong either," Blake admitted, understanding what Weiss was trying to tell her. Like she said, the cat faunus couldn't deny that she noticed many of the strange things she said about Joseph and quite honestly, she thought it was strange as well. That being said, with so many other things to focus on, it never truly bothered Blake like it apparently did for Weiss. "But none of this explains why you're trying to find out information about a… 'misplaced person,' I guess you could call him, in some kind of Atlas history book."

As they continued towards their destination, the black haired faunus waited patiently for an explanation from Weiss, who seemed rather reluctant to divulge in her reasoning. However, after another moment, the heiress let out a small sigh and spoke up once more. "Well, truth be told… I think you'll find my reasoning here to be rather… flimsy."

"Try me." Blake shot back, interested in the answer regardless of how bizarre it may be.

"Well… you see, one of the first things that truly caught my attention about Joseph had to have been his last name, _**Joestar.**_ Even when we all first met, his last name was something that kept bothering me at the very back of my thoughts. I couldn't quite recall why at the time, but I just knew that I heard his surname at one point before we met."

"So... you're telling me that this entire conspiracy theory of yours began… because Joseph's last name sounded _vaguely familiar to you?"_ Blake reiterated, a deadpan tone in her voice.

"There's more to it than just that!" Weiss shot back heatedly, sounding both indignant and embarrassed. "Initially, I just chalked it all up to me overthinking things… but then the weeks passed by, and I kept noticing more various slip-ups on Joseph's part. He kept mentioning people with surnames that made no sense, like Zeppeli, Pendleton, and my personal favorite, Lisa Lisa. He just kept mentioning and doing different things that completely clashed with how things work not just in Vale, but on Remnant in general. I kept thinking about all this for some time, and eventually, I remembered where I heard the name 'Joestar.'"

"Essentially, back when I was younger, both before and during the time I went to school in Atlas, my father hired various tutors to educate me in subjects of all manners." Weiss explained, inwardly grimacing at the thought of all those monotonous and tedious lessons she learned from those tutors. "The subjects ranged from simple mathematics, fencing once I reached the proper age, and more importantly, history lessons."

"I can't remember the exact details of the matter in question, it was such a long time ago, and I recall those tutoring lessons being quite interchangeable as a whole, but I can still remember slightly. Apparently, some acquaintance of the Joestar family inherited a sizeable fortune from a friend of his in the family. With the money he received, he apparently went on to found some kind of corporation. When I managed to remember this much, I also realized that the Joestar family was native to Atlas, because the lesson I had at the time was _ **「**_ _ **Atlas history.**_ _ **」"**_

"You don't remember the name of this company? Or if they're even still active?" Blake questioned. If Weiss could remember the name of this company, then it would make this entire search much easier.

"No, I don't, and I don't even remember what the purpose of this man's organization was. Only that it was founded before the Great War." Weiss admitted. "However, once I procure this book, I plan on searching up a list of all major corporations that originated in Atlas. Like I said, since that tutor's lesson focused on the history of Atlas _,_ I think it's safe to assume that this corporation was founded there as well. I can assume from the fortune this man inherited that the Joestars were at one point a noble family, and by taking everything else I've told you into account, I should be able to find what I'm looking for fairly easily. Even more so if this book I'm looking for has an entry on the Joestar family itself."

"Alright… and say this book doesn't have the information that you're looking for. Then what?" The black-haired girl asked, brow raised.

"Well, if I don't find anything important, then I suppose that will be the end of it" Weiss shrugged, a rather nonchalant tone in her voice. "Regardless of whether this leads to anything important, it'll just be nice to get this whole issue out of my mind once and for all. It's a matter that's been bothering me for quite some time."

"Important or not, you've certainly put a lot of thought into all this." Blake pointed out, causing the heiress to let out an annoyed sigh.

"Look, can you stop with the pointless questions and tell us how close we are to this friend of yours' store?"

"Well, judging by where we are we should be..." Blake trailed off when she noticed the street corner they were on.

" ...right here" She finished as the two turned the corner, her eyes now focused on a rather quaint looking building lodged between two taller ones. The words 'Tukson's Book Trade' were printed in gold coloring above the building's entrance and it had two window displays that showed off various new books that came out within the month.

"'Tukson's Book Trade. Home to every book under the son.'" Blake said simply, the tone in her voice making it clear that she was quoting something, likely the store's slogan. "C'mon. It should be open by now."

"Do you think he'll have the book I'm looking for?"

"I've known Tuskon for a little while now, and I've learned that he does a good job at running his business. There's a good chance he has what you're looking for." And with that, the two girls walked through the glass doors that led into the quaint looking bookstore.

 ***DING***

"Be right there!" Came a fairly gruff voice from the back of the store. After another moment of waiting, a fairly broad, black-haired man with a very prominent pair of sideburns came out of the double doors that led to the back of the store, currently balancing a tall stack of books in both his hands.

"Welcome to Tukson's Book Trade, home to every book under the-" However, as he went to place the books back down on the counter, he realized he was dealing with a familiar customer. "Oh, Blake! I didn't expect you to come by today. And you brought a friend! Anything I can help you both with?" He added when he noticed the unfamiliar face next to Blake.

"Good morning Tukson. How's business been?"

"Well, it's been pretty slow right now, but it IS a weekday, so you know how it is. Anyway, if you're here about that uh… more _explicit_ version of _**'Ninjas Of Love'**_ that was released this month, then I'm sorry to tell you that it doesn't come in for another-"

"Ah! Tuskon! Tuskon! I didn't come here to ask you about that!" Blake cut off hastily, a dark red tint beginning to cover her face.

"Oh? Then what did you come here for?" The man, The Titular Tukson of 'Tukson's Book Trade asked.

"Well, my friend here was looking for a compendium that went into detail on any and all noble families that existed in Atlas, and I was wondering if you had anything like that in stock." She explained, gesturing towards Weiss as she did so.

"Yes. It doesn't have to be any book in particular so long as it goes into detail on Atlas's noble families." Weiss elaborated, her tone even as she addressed the shopkeeper.

"A history account for all recorded noble families in Atlas, huh?" Tukson reiterated, rubbing his chin as he tried to think of anything that matched Blake's account. "I think I got what you need. It should be in the back." And with that, the shopkeeper turned around and went back through the door the led to the back of his store.

"If you wanna come back here and see for yourself, you're welcome to it…" He mentioned off-handedly, keeping the door ajar as he went through it. Seeing no reason not to, the both of them passed by the desk and followed Tukson to the back of his store. When the entered, they were greeted with a dimly lit room that was covered wall to wall with bookshelves and various cardboard boxes. Tukson was currently looking through a shelf in the very back, his eyes slightly narrowed.

"It should be somewhere in this shelf… I just can't remember which one exactly…" He explained to the girls, scrolling through each book on the shelf.

 ***Ring…***

However, before he could continue his search further, the sound of the front door's bell jingling caught his attention. Realizing that more customers likely came in, he turned to address Weiss and Blake.

"More customers? Sorry Blake, but I need to go take that. Tell you what, though. You and your friend can keep looking through that shelf. If you find you what need, then just come back out front and let me know." As he said this, the black-haired shopkeeper was already on his way back to the front desk of his store, leaving Blake and Weiss alone in the dimly lit backstage area of the bookstore.

"He seems like a pleasant individual. How did you get to know him?" Weiss asked casually as the began to search through the bookshelf.

"Well, I met him during my first few weeks in Vale. I was trying to pass the time before the first semester began, so I browsed around the shopping district and happened upon his store. He sold what I was looking for at a decent price and wasn't shady, so I keep stopping by whenever I need something else to read." Blake explained, browsing through the bookshelf as she did so. However, for a brief moment, she stopped completely, seemingly contemplating her next words before she kept looking and continued.

"I… also learned that he and I actually have a lot in common in certain areas…"

"Do you mean that in the sense that you're both book enthusiasts or-oh." Weiss's words died in he throat when she noticed her teammate looking at her and wiggling her 'bow.' Knowing full what she was trying to say, the heiress simply gave a small nod before continuing with what she was doing.

"Well, what he is doesn't matter to me. So long as his prices are fair and his tone is pleasant." Weiss responded airily, making it clear that she couldn't care less about what Blake told her. Unfortunately, however, this wasn't the only thing the yellow-eyed girl had to tell her. She hesitated for a moment, once more unsure how to proceed, before she responded.

"I'm glad you think so, because… that isn't the only thing we have in common."

"What? What else could you possibly be-" Weiss stopped herself mid-sentence, her eyes narrowing when she once again realized what Blake was talking about. "Wait! You're saying he's a-"

"No! No! Weiss!" Blake silenced her quickly, covering her mouth before she could say anything else. "He's a defector! Like me! He didn't like the way the White Fang were doing things either and decided to take his leave! That's all behind him!"

In response to her frantic explanation, the heiress merely looked at Blake for a moment before pinching the bridge of her nose.

"...Do you have any other friends that have broken the law, or is it just the two?" Weiss asked dryly.

"Well, none that I know of.. I left all my other 'criminal friends' in the White Fang." The tone in Blake's voice as she said that made it clear that the heiress's sarcasm was not appreciated.

The entire conversation, the girls both spoke in a hushed tone to make sure neither Tukson nor his potential customers heard him. After this, the two continued their search without saying a word. After a few more moments of searching, A book with a light blue and white font caught the heiress's attention. Wasting no time, she quickly snatched the hardcover book out of it's nook and was quite pleased by what she found.

' _ **The Names And Histories Of Atlas's Many Noble Families.'**_

' _Finally! I found it!'_ Weiss thought with a barely contained feeling of triumph. When Weiss went to see if this book was available in Beacon's library, she was very disappointed to find that someone already took it out, leading to this whole tiresome goose chase. But now that she finally found a copy she could read, she could finally start looking for some reliable answers! Wasting no time, the heiress turned to inform Blake of her find.

"Blake! I found what we need!… Blake?"

Only to find that Blake wasn't standing beside her anymore. Shaking off her surprise, Weiss quickly looked around the room to see where her teammate had gone, although she didn't have to look far, because for whatever reason, she was currently peering back into the front of the store with narrowed eyes.

"Blake? What are you doing?" Weiss asked, only for Blake to bring her hand up sharply, effectively muting whatever else she had to say.

"Shh! C'mere. _Quietly._ "

* * *

"...your brothers in the White Fang aren't happy to hear this… and neither are we."

Even though he was keeping a calm face currently, it was easy to see that Tukson feared for his life right now, and with good reason. In front of him were two armed and uppity teenagers that he knew all too well were associated with the White Fang in some way… and they apparently came here to eliminate him.

"You know who we are, don't you?" The green haired girl asked rhetorically, her partner continuing to dim the lights of the store.

"Yes…" Tuskon answered simply, his mind working frantically to work out some kind of plan that would save his life. Both Blake and her friend were literally only a few feet behind him, and if that white-haired girl's sword was any indication, then it was clear that she was also a student from Beacon. Two huntresses in training were only a few feet behind him, but he knew all too well that any attempts to get their help would just result in him getting shot in the back by this girl.

"Aaaand, you know why we're here?" The girl continued, her questions becoming increasingly pointless as their intentions became clear.

"...Yes." Tukson answered once more, his eyes narrowing as his mind came up with the best solution he could think of under the circumstances.

"So…" She said, beginning to smirk. "...are you going to fight back?"

And Tukson's solution, to put it simply, was to make as much noise as he could.

"YES, I AM GOING TO FIGHT BACK!"

Hoping to god that Blake and her friend heard him, the faunus storekeeper threw caution to the wind and extended his fingernails into claws. A little perk that came with being born a faunus. With an animalistic yell, he leaped onto his store's front desk and leaped towards the green-haired girl with his claws bared, swiping at her jugular. However, the girl simply took this in stride and ducked under his attack, and thanks to the momentum he gained from his tackle, he couldn't stop himself as he flew straight into her grey-haired accomplice.

In that next moment, time seemed to slow down for Tuskon. He suddenly became aware of the gravity of his situation with ice-cold awareness. These kids came here with the intent to kill and he just left himself wide open. And as he saw that grey-haired boy launch a kick in his direction that most-likely lethal… he realized that he was about to die.

However, thanks to the close presence of Team RWBY's two members, Tukson's death was going to be prolonged.

Suddenly, before anybody in the room could comprehend what was going on, a dark green glyph suddenly phased into existence between Tukson and the grey-haired boy. This, in turn, caused the former White Fang member to slam face-first into the dark-green sigil and the boy, who couldn't redirect or stop his kick, slam his foot into it. This, in turn, sent both of these unfortunate souls flying in the opposite directions; with Tukson being sent flying into the back of his store and the boy being sent crashing out the window of the bookstore.

"W-What the!? What just happened!?" The green-haired girl stammered out, a cold sweat running down her body thanks to this unexpected turn of events.

 _ ***RATATATATATATATATA!***_

The girl got her answer in the form of Blake leaping out of the back area of the bookstore, pulling out her pistols in mid-air and firing upon the would-be assassin during her moment of shock. Swearing under her breath, the girl whipped out her duel revolvers and used one round to shatter the other window of the bookstore before jumping out of it, laying down a barrage of retaliating shots as she did so.

Unwilling to relent with the pressure she was putting on, Blake responded to the girl's counterattack by sending out a barrage of her shadow clones to bum rush her opponent. The assassin managed to shoot a good deal of them down before they could get to her, but she ran out of ammunition at the most inopportune of times, allowing the final three clones to simultaneously tackle her before she could switch the form of her weapons.

"Ugh!" The clones themselves didn't do any real damage, merely dissipating as soon as they slammed into her, but what they _did_ do was leave the girl staggered and stunned, which was exactly what her opponent was hoping for. Capitalizing on this newfound opportunity, Blake took the chance to load a round of fire dust into her weapon, which in turn allowed her to summon a fiery version of her semblances' clones. Wasting no time, the black-haired faunus sent the clone of herself sprinting towards the green-haired girl, who coincidentally only had a split-second to look upwards just as the fiery clone froze right in front of her and was about to detonate.

"OH N-!"

 ***BOOM!***

With no time to dodge, the girl was sent flying backwards from the explosion, landing beside her partner, who had just begun to get up and recollect himself. Shaking his head and letting out a small scowl, the grey-haired man locked eyes on Blake, who was currently standing in the store's display window with her pistols tightly grasped in her hand.

Upon seeing him glaring at her, Blake merely narrowed her eyes simply beckoned him over with her pistol. Clenching his fists, the grey-haired teen roundhouse kicked towards the faunus in hiding, sending a powerful explosive round from the firing mechanisms built into his boots. Seeing something like this coming from a mile away, Blake jumped out the display case and retaliated by sending out another barrage of fire dust-infused clones.

Scoffing, the grey haired teen responded by jumping into the air and slamming his foot into the first fire clone's face. As soon as this happened, the fiery clone began to glow brightly. Acting on the split-second of time he had, the teen used the clone's face as leverage and jumped back into the air just as it released a fiery explosion. The splash damage caused the closest clone to explode as well, which in turn caused another fire clone to explode and so forth. As one can imagine, this very quickly lead to a chain reaction that blew up all the clones in a rapid succession, ending it a large, fiery explosion. However, as this chain reaction began to take place, the clones' target was already beginning the 2nd phase of his counterattack. Just as the 2nd clone blew up, the teen repeated the same action on the clone at the end of the group, this time, however, he opted to use the clone's explosion to send him speeding towards Blake.

Surprised, and with barely any time to react, the black-haired faunus changed her weapon back into it's cleaver form and brought it up to the side of her face, just in time for the grey-haired boy to deliver a brutal and powerful kick into the side of her face.

The force of the blow was so powerful that for a brief moment, Blake could've sworn felt the earth shake around her. Whether this really happened or if such a powerful blow merely made her head ring was not a question she had time to think about, for the second after the force of the kick forced the blunt end of Blake's blade into her cheek before she was sent sprawling down the city road at an astonishing speed. As she tumbled along the ground, she quickly changed her blade into it's dual katana form and stabbed both blades into the ground, finally stopping her.

Unfortunately, her attacker was far from done with her. With a victorious smirk, the grey-haired boy sprinted towards the discombobulated Blake before jumping high into the air and using the recoil of the weapons attached to his boots to go even higher. When he was as high as he could go, the boy quickly changed his trajectory so that his legs were pointed towards the sky. Wasting no time, he fired both of the guns on his legs so that he was sent rocketing down towards the ground at an astonishing speed… right towards Blake. After firing several more rounds to go even faster, the rocketing teen quickly changed his form mid-flight so that he could bring down his foot in the form of a rocketing divekick. By the time she managed to get back onto her feet and shake off the slight ringing in her ears, Blake could only look upwards in shock, frozen like a deer in headlights as what was sure to be a lethal blow came speeding towards her.

However, before his attack could connect, the grey-haired teen's kick was interrupted when a large pillar of ice was suddenly erected between himself and Blake. The force of the blow was so great that a large series of cracks spread throughout the ice pillar before it shattered in a magnificent, icy explosion, sending small shards of ice flying everywhere. As he fell to the pavement feet first, the attacker was annoyed to see that his opponent was nowhere to be found.

"Where'd she go?" He growled, ignoring the falling shards of ice as he tried to find where Blake disappeared to.

He didn't have to go long without an answer, for he soon found his answer in the form of a series of blueish white Glyphs to his left. Sprinting down these glyphs at a frightening speed was Blake, who proceeded to slash at with her weapon's katanas. Unfortunately for him, the faunus girl was far from finished and sent another flurry of slashes his way, most of which he was barely able to dodge and steer clear of. However, just as he was about to capitalize on an opening in her series of attacks and counter, he was forced to leap backwards when a shot of whitish blue energy came flying towards him from above. As soon at the energy blast hit the ground he was just standing on, a large pillar of ice began to steadily grow from the area. Taking a brief second to look up and see where the blast came from, the boy saw Weiss standing on the edge of one of the rooftops with a narrowed eyes, her rapier radiating with the same energy from the ice blast. However, he didn't have any time to shoot her down before Blake leaped over the newly created pillar of ice and brought her katanas down in a stabbing motion, forcing him to leap backwards once more as well as duck his head when the heiress sent another blast of ice dust straight towards him.

Before the grey-clad teen knew it, he found himself desperately dodging against two unrelenting assaults, one in the form of Blake's constant barrage of slashes and another in the form of Weiss's constant dust blasts from her high ground on the rooftops. Growing increasingly frustrated and fed up with this entire debacle, the teen decided to take a mighty long jump backwards to gain some breathing room. As soon as he wasn't being attacked at all angles, he'd be able to wipe the floor with both of these interfering idiots easily. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't going to be that easy, for halfway through his leap, he found himself prematurely stopped when he back suddenly slammed into something very cold, jagged and icy. His heart skipping a beat, the boy quickly looked behind him only to find a gigantic wall of ice blocking the entirety of the street erected behind him.

' _SHIT! That_ bitch _must've spawned this thing behind me while they were charging me!'_ The boy mentally yelled, realizing now that Weiss must've spawned the ice construct from one of the ice blasts he dodged. However, before he could think to smash through the wall or use his leg gauntlets to launch himself over it, his instincts kicked in and in a surprising display of flexibility, brought his right leg up straight in front of himself to block a slash from the cleaver form of Blake's weapon. Before the boy could force her away from him, however, Weiss capitalized on this opening by charging her rapier with fire dust and jumping down from and roof and towards her opponent, swinging at him with fire trailing from her blade. With no way to block, the grey-haired youth was forced to take the brunt of the blow, subsequently sending him flying into the wall of a nearby building.

The boy's aura protected him from the brunt of the fiery slash, but that didn't stop it from hurting like hell. Not only that, but taking such a powerful blow head on like that was doing his aura no favors. Quite frankly, he wasn't sure if he could keep fighting like this. That being said, despite his weakening state, he found himself unwilling to relent, forcing himself to land on his knees when he fell to the ground.

"Alright… I have no idea who the hell either of you are, but I can guarantee that you're both gonna regret this!" The grey-haired teen growled as he forced himself back onto his feet, glaring at both Blake and Weiss.

"Just give it up! There's no way you'll be able to beat us, especially not now!" Blake yelled, switching her weapon back into it's gun form and keeping both pistols trained on the boy and his green-haired partner, who was currently trying to get back onto her feet as well, using the wall to support herself. It seemed taking the brunt of that clone explosion did her no favors.

"Maybe, but I really don't feel like making this easy for either of you." He shot back heatedly, getting back into his fighting stance. Both Blake and Weiss narrowed their eyes at the boy's stubbornness before getting ready to fight once more.

 ***WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEN***

However, before the girls or their opponent could make the next move, the sound of a siren in the distance caught their attention. It seemed that all the gunfire and sounds of fighting caught the attention of someone and they subsequently called for help. Not at all surprising, considering this fight had been going on in broad daylight in the middle of the shopping district. Quite frankly, both Weiss and Blake were surprised that there were no nearby civilians during this whole mess.

"RAAAAGH!"

Before either of them could dwell on this further, however, their attention was diverted when they found their opponent suddenly sprinting at the both of them with murder in their eyes. Reacting instinctively, Blake pulled the trigger of her pistols and fired upon the boy before he could attack them.

"!" However, they were both taken by surprised when the boy simply blinked out of existence as soon as Blake's bullets came into contact with him. With how sudden it happened and how there was no proof that anyone was charging at her to begin with, it made the faunus feel like she just shot at thin air.

"Where… where did they go?" However, Blake soon shook off her surprise and went back on guard, quickly scanning the area of either sign of their opponents. Unfortunately, it appeared to be a fruitless effort because the both of them disappeared from the area without a trace.

"I don't know, and I don't understand either. One moment, he was charging towards us with murder in his eyes, and the next, the both of them are gone without a trace." Weiss uttered, still caught off guard by what both she and Blake witnessed.

"That had to have been some kind of a semblance. That's the only explanation."

"But what were they doing here!? Why were they trying to kill your friend!? Is it because of his association with the White Fang?" Weiss all but yelled, her frustration with this entire situation becoming increasingly apparent.

"I don't know, Weiss! Instead of screaming down my ear, why don't you ask Tukson for answers if you want them that badly? From what I could tell, those two were here for him" Blake shot back, making her annoyance with her partner's attitude clear.

"Okay, you're right. I'm sorry. Let's just talk to him and find out what's going on here." Weiss admitted after a moment, taking care to control her temper before she realized something."Wait.. where exactly is he, anyway?"

True to her word, the two girls seemed to have lost track of the target of the two assassins during all the chaos that ensued. It took Blake a moment before she remembered what exactly happened to Tukson back in the store.

"Well, I was a bit too occupied fighting those guys off, but last time I checked, that wind glyph you spawned sent him flying back… into… the stor…" Blake trailed off, the answer of where Tukson was now fairly obvious to both girls. Without exchanging a word, the both of them looked towards the wrecked front of _'Tukson's Book Trade,'_ a faint, pained groan coming from inside the building.

"Uh oh." Wasting no time, the two girls sprinted back into the now messy and wrecked storefront and hurried into the back, where they saw the bookstore's owner slumped against a destroyed bookshelf, broken pieces of wood and sprawled open books scattered on and around him.

"Tuskon, are you alright!?" Blake asked quickly, kneeling down and brushing the debris off Tukson before helping him sit upwards. The shopkeep let out a pained groan before he started to roll his shoulders around, only to stop when that caused a dreadful spike of pain to surge through his body.

"Well, I don't have a hole in my head and I'm still breathing, so yeah, pretty good all things considered..." Tukson groaned out when the pain subsided into a dull ache.

"Tuskon… just who were those two? Why were they trying to kill you?"

"... They were associates of my… former employers… It seems like they… they… ***Ahem!*** look Blake, I'm… I'm not sure I should really be explaining all this in front of…" Tukson said hesitantly, his eyes drifting towards a skeptical Weiss.

"It's alright. She's a close friend of mine. She also knows about our involvement with our former associates." Blake explained quickly, causing the shopkeeper to tense up for a brief moment. Weiss didn't say anything upon hearing this, merely nodding and allowing for Tuskon to continue.

"She does? Does she know about you too?" Tukson asked skeptically, only for Blake to nod in response. "Well… doesn't look like it was gonna be a secret for much longer, if those sirens are any clue." He sighed, alluding to the growing sound of sirens in the distance.

"Anyway, it looks like we're not gonna have long before the police arrive, so I'll give you the abridged version. I was planning on packing up my things and leaving Vale. I told you that I cut off things with the White Fang Blake, but that wasn't true. I know you already know this, but you can't just walk away from the White Fang once you're a member. As far as they're concerned, the only proper way to leave after you join is through death, either by the hands of the enemy in battle, or by their own hands if the situation calls for it." Tukson explained, a tired tone in his voice. Just thinking of the lengths some of the more… fanatical members of the White Fang went to to ensure submission and compliance sent chills down his spine and made him all the more anxious to get as far away from Vale and the group of psychos as possible. "I knew this all too well, so I did everything I could set myself up with a way out of Vale without any of them finding out. I tried being careful, but it seems like I wasn't careful enough, if those two kids trying to kill me was any clue."

"You still haven't given us an explanation on those two, Tukson. Just who were they? From what I saw, they didn't look to be faunus, and we both know that the White Fang doesn't accept human help normally." Blake questioned further, with Weiss listening to everything she heard intently.

"I'm not sure who they are, I only know about them through word of mouth. From what I heard, they showed up awhile back with their boss and had some kind of a meeting with one of our leaders, Adam Taurus. Apparently, after everything was said and done, they entered some kind of a partnership with the White Fang, with Adam giving them his approval. This is only what I heard though, I don't know how the deal went down exactly..." As Tukson continued with his explanation, he didn't notice how Blake seemed to seize up upon hearing him mention Adam Taurus, something that didn't go unnoticed by Weiss. "As for why they came here… well, I guess someone found out that I was planning to make a break for it and they were sent to stop me... by any means necessary it looks like. No idea why they'd waste the effort though, if we're gonna be honest..."

As Tukson finished his explanation, Blake's mind filled itself with many questions? The White Fang entered into some kind of partnership with a set of humans? And ADAM, of all people, vouched for them? Just when did this meeting happen? Was it just after she made her escape on that train of much later? And for that matter, just what did either party have to gain from this partnership? She knew that something was going on in the White Fang thanks to what little information Torchwick gave away that night on the docks, but what Tukson just told her only complicated things.

 ***WIIIIIIIIEEEEEN!***

She was snapped out of her thoughts when the sound of sirens only grew louder. Within a few minutes, the police would soon be here to investigate the commotion. Looking towards her fellow faunus with a stern expression, she spoke up once more. "Tukson, I know this goes without saying, but you need to turn yourself in. The White Fang already know that you're trying to escape and I doubt that those two are gonna be their only attempts at getting rid of you. At this point, police protection is your best bet for safety. So please, just… make this easy on all of us."

"Yeah… neither of you need to worry about that. At this point, I'm just happy that I'm still alive. Whatever the law has in store for me, I'll gladly accept. It's better than dying, that's for sure…" The shopkeeper sighed, running a hand through his head.

Upon hearing this, Blake let out a sigh of relief, glad to see that her friend was listening to reason, before she helped him up. However, before they could help Tukson out of the store, Weiss's eyes lit up in remembrance, prompting her to reach into her coat pocket for something.

"Oh! Before I forget!" She said, handing the disheveled bookstore owner a couple of bucks worth of lien. "This should be enough to cover the cost of that compendium, correct?" She asked, treating the entire issue as though it was a casual affair despite what just occurred. Tukson only looked at the currency in front of him before he began chuckling slightly, clearly amused despite his exhaustion.

"I'll tell you what. Why don't I just accept the both of you saving my life as payment and we'll call it a day?"

* * *

 **(A few hours later…)**

In another part of Vale's shopping district, one Joseph Joestar couldn't help but feel like he was missing out on something big. This thought came to him in the office of Kishibe Rohan while he was enjoying the newest issue of _**Baoh: The Visitor**_ with a piping hot cup of tea.

"Say Rohan…" The Joestar began, looking up from his comic book. "You ever get the feeling that you just missed out on something completely pulse-pounding and exciting?"

"I'm just gonna get to the point of your question and say you're probably feeling like this because _you did_ miss out on a rather noteworthy event." Rohan answered simply, not even bothering to look up from the newest page of his comic he was drawing.

"Wow. And here I thought I had good foresight!" Joseph whistled, admittedly impressed. "Anyway, what gives you that impression?"

"Well, I'm just speaking in the context if we were in some sort of work of fiction. If that was the case, then something exciting really did happen while you were here. And if we keep this 'fiction' mindset in mind, then logic would also dictate that the part of our conversation we're having right now would be a part of some kind of cutaway gag." The comics enthusiast explained smoothly, only to get a dismissive scoff from his friend.

"Everything's just one big comic book to you, isn't it? Jeeze, why do I always end up making friends with a bunch of cock-sure jackasses?" Taking Joseph's dismissive comment as a challenge, Rohan stopped what he was doing to reach for the remote for his desk's television. Without skipping a beat, he then proceeded to turn the TV on and switch the channel to the Vale News Network. When he was certain that he was on the right channel, the clothes designer then turned the television towards his guest, a deadpan expression on his face.

 _ **VALE NEWS NETWORK BREAKING NEWS REPORT.**_

' _ **We interrupt your regularly scheduled broadcasting to bring you a shocking news report. All citizens of Vale are advised to be extra cautious and stay on the look out for the two teenagers shown in these pictures. It was reported that the two teenagers shown here were caught attempting to assassinate bookstore owner Tukson Mulberry for his past association with the White Fang. Thankfully, their assassination attempt was thwarted by the timely intervention of two students from Beacon Academy. Unfortunately, the perpetrators were able to escape arrest and are likely still at large within the city. If you catch sight of either of the individuals, lock yourself in your home and contact the police immediately. Do not attempt to confront either of them, for they are both armed and very dangerous. We now return to your regularly scheduled broadcasting.**_

.

.

.

"...Shut the fuck up!" Joseph yelled angrily when Rohan didn't say a word. Smirking haughtily at his furious response, the eccentric artist got back to work on his comic.

" _...Anyway,_ how's the comic coming along? You finally thought up a name for it?"

"Not yet, but I have thought of a fairly interesting concept. I'm thinking of giving the names of all characters and their abilities allusions to famous musicians. What do you think?" Rohan proposed, taking a moment to showcase the newest panel in his comic. The current scene seemed to showing this naked man with a ship captain's hat punching this geeky looking guy in the gut, which in turn caused him to start throwing up.

Panels like these made Joseph really question what the genre of this comic even was sometimes.

"Why the hell are you asking me? We both know damn well that my opinion means jack squat when it comes to your precious comic series." The brunette said heatedly, still a little annoyed at what just happened. However, he soon began to roll the back of his neck a few times before speaking up once more. "Honestly though, I think any naming theme is fine if you don't go naming everything after colors. Seriously, nobody around here ever bothers to shut up about colors! Most of the fucking people here are named after them! I mean for fuck's sake, give it a goddamn rest already, will ya!?"

"My thoughts exactly."

And with that, the rest of the day went by fairly uneventfully for Joseph Joestar.

* * *

Surprisingly, despite what occurred at Tukson's book store, things returned to normalcy fairly quickly for both Weiss and Blake. After answering any questions the police had for them, they were free to go with the assurance that they would do everything they could to catch the two assailants. When they asked about Tukson, they were told that he was going to be put under police protection so that he would be safe from the White Fang. With that in mind, the both of them sincerely hoped that the kindly storekeeper would be okay under police protection.

After that, things passed by fairly quietly. Both Weiss and Blake agreed that they would keep quiet with their involvement at the bookstore for now. They would get to telling Ruby and Yang soon, but with how intense they could be with their questions, they both decided that they were better off holding their tongues for now.

In no time flat, two days passed, and only a day remained before the beginning of the 2nd semester at Beacon. with this in mind, pretty much all of Beacon Academy's students were making sure to enjoy the final day of the semester to the fullest.

' _This… is this correct!?'_

Except for Weiss Schnee, who's troubled thoughts were preventing her from fully enjoying her final day of free time. The reason for this was because she finally made a breakthrough in her investigation.

For a bit of context, it was currently the early afternoon in Beacon and both teams RWBY and JNPR along with their technical 5th member all decided to meet up and enjoy some lunch at the dining hall. Prior to this meetup, the heiress finally found the section in this book that focused on the history of the Joestar family. Wasting no time, she dove straight into the segment and took in all the information it had to only point in which she stopped reading was when it was time to head to the dining hall, and even that was until they got situated there. However… Weiss could say with certainty that she wasn't expecting the information she found within this compendium.

Initially it was all pretty run of the mill stuff. A simple family in Atlas that rose to fortune after creating a successful business, with this business in particular focusing on the processing and shipping of processed metals, a very important resource on Remnant. Unfortunately, 20 years before the great war, the heir to the family's fortune and only remaining member at the time, Jonathan Joestar, perished during his honeymoon in an unfortunate accident. With the only living member of the family now dead, the Joestar family effectively perished with Jonathan on that trip. However, things took a turn for the bizarre very quickly when Weiss realized that this meant the Joestar family _was decimated a century ago._ That sole fact raised more questions than they provided answers!

Not only that, butJoseph stated that his hamon abilities were some kind of hereditary trait that he gained from his grandfather, _**Jonathan Joestar!**_ The same man that this book clearly stated died a century ago. Was it truly possible for a man who died a century ago to be the grandson of this seventeen year old teenager? Not only that, but Jonathan Joestar's wife, Erina, apparently died alongside him. If the information on this book was accurate, then there was no feasible way for Joseph Joestar to be on Remnant, especially not at this age!

' _Just… how is this possible!?'_ Weiss thought in disbelief, a cold sweat running down her as she reread the book's account of the Joestar family's destruction. _'If what I'm reading is correct, then the Joestar family was annihilated practically a century ago! If this is true… then what does this reveal about Joseph!?'_

Tearing her eyes away from the book, the heiress took a good look at the alleged member of a long dead atleasian noble family. He was currently clad in a light purple tank top which he wore underneath a large bomber jacket, along with a pair of dark blue jeans that were held up by a purple Lucky Land web belt. Instead of enjoying the meal he got for lunch or conversing with the members of teams RWBY or JNPR, he was instead examining the gem that was fitted onto this strange necklace that he constantly wore, an expression of longing on his face.

Weiss had actually noticed that this necklace was the one accessory that Joseph wore constantly, but she never really paid it much thought. After all, overly flashy clothes and extravagant accessories were just something that everyone Joseph personally knew at Beacon had come to acknowledge. However, now that she had a clear look at it the gemstone within it, she couldn't help but take in how beautiful it truly was. It was a glossy looking smooth gemstone that was triangular in shape. It's texture and overall structure appeared to be flawless, if it's smooth dark-red sheen was any indication, but what caught Weiss's eye above everything else had to have been the odd looking cross that was clear to see in the gem's center.

' _It's beautiful.'_ Weiss thought in awe, momentarily transfixed by the smooth red stone's natural beauty. _'Just what kind of stone is that? And where did he get it?'_ However, her thoughts of awe were soon diminished when the heiress realized that this was just another enigma revolving around what was essentially a walking, talking, physical anomaly.

' _Just who are you, exactly, 'Joseph Joestar?''_ Weiss thought as she looked at her distracted teammate. _'Are you really a member of this wiped out noble family or is something else going on here? Have you been lying to us, or are you just as in the dark as the rest of us?'_

"Man, even for a couple of bookaholics like you guys, I don't think I've seen either of you so into something. What're ya both doing?" However, Weiss was caught by surprise when Yang suddenly popped in between herself and Blake, a chipper smile on her face as she tried to get a look at the contents of the heiress's compendium.

In response to this, Blake, who was apparently looking over something in her notebook, quickly closed it before responding. "Nothing… just going over notes from last semester." The black-haired girl covered up smoothly. Weiss took the time she spoke to quickly turn to a different page while Yang was distracted. She didn't want to reveal any of what she was doing to her other teammates until she had all her facts straight. Not only that, but she still had matters that she needed to figure out, like finding out just who inherited the Joestar family fortune when Jonathan Joestar died. Fortunately, there was still plenty of content concerning the Joestar family that Weiss had yet to read through.

"Yes, and I was just... ***ahem*** reading up on some history to prepare for Professor Oobleck's upcoming classes." Weiss covered up as well, albeit much less smoothly. To be fair though, she WAS technically telling the truth. Fortunately, it seemed that the blonde brawler hadn't noticed anything.

"Pfft. Laaaame~! ***BOP!*** " Yang teased airily before immediately catching a grape that Nora threw at her with her mouth, letting out a pleasant sound upon tasting the tangy fruit.

 ***SLAM!***

Before Weiss could come up with a retort for Yang's flippant remark, she was stopped when her team leader suddenly slammed a large white binder that looked suspiciously like her own onto the table, it's contents chalk full of various papers.

"*Ahem!* Sisters! Friends!... Weiss…"

"Hey!" Weiss yelled indignantly, momentarily forgetting her confusion regarding Joseph, her attention now focused on whatever asinine thing her overly enthusiastic leader had to say now. However before she could protest about being singled out like that, she silver-eyed girl continued, her enthusiasm not waning in the slightest.

"Four score and seven minutes ago, _**I had a dream!**_ '

"this oughta be good ***BOP!*** Mmm~!" The extravagant tone in her little sister's voice made it all too clear to Yang that she had something big and chaotic in mind. Something she would be more than happy to watch unfold as she kept catching tasty bite-sized fruit with her mouth.

"A dream that one day, the four of us would come together, _as a team,_ and have the most fun anyone has ever had… EVER!" She exclaimed excitedly, her childish behavior overtaking her previous attempts at coming off as composed and respectable.

"Wait, is that my binder you stole?" However, any good vibes Ruby accumulated from her speech were tarnished when Weiss managed to get a better look at the gigantic binder she brought in and realized it looked very familiar.

"I am not a crook." Ruby denied quickly, although the look on Weiss's face made it clear she didn't believe her.

"What are you talking about?" Fortunately, the silver-eyed girl was able to continue her speech thanks to Blake inquiry. Recomposing herself, she continued.

"I'm talking about starting this new semester off with a bang! In essence, the last two weeks have been great, and between the tournament at the end of the year and all the new exchange students coming in, I can already tell that this new semester is gonna be amazing! But classes start back up tomorrow, which is why yours truly has taken the time to schedule a series of wonderful events for us today!" The tone in Ruby's voice made it quite clear that she was very proud of the work she accomplished, and you couldn't really blame her either. If all the content in that binder was all her doing and not just some of Weiss's study sheets that she forgot to empty, then it was clear that she put a lot of time and effort into this.

"I'm not sure whether to be proud or scared of what you have in store." Even Weiss had to admit she was mostly proud of her leader… in between all the apprehension she felt about what Ruby had in store for them today.

"I don't know. I… think I might just sit this one out." However, Blake was feeling much more reluctant to go along with whatever Ruby had planned. She just wasn't feeling up to it today, especially after what happened a few days ago still fresh on her mind.

"Seriously? A half-assed response like that is your answer?" Came the voice of Joseph, his trademark cocky smirk plastered onto his face. "C'mon Blakey! You can't just half-ass things here! You and your gal pals are in the prime of your life and attending what's probably one of the most important schools in the world! What you gotta do now is take the world by the balls and leave a mark on it that'll last for ages! Causing some havoc here with your team sounds like the perfect practice run for that!"

"Hell yeah! I'm getting pumped up already! Instead of starting this semester off with a bang, we should start it off with _**yang!**_ " Yang agreed, the brunette's words firing her up greatly.

 ***Boink***

Boooooo!"

...only for her to get extinguished when Nora decided to kill the mood by throwing an apple at her nose. It was just a playful action, but it was still enough to get the now scowling Yang to retaliate by throwing a fruit of her own right back at the hammer wielder.

"...well, that's not quite how I would've worded it, but he does have a point." Weiss added in after she finished grimacing at Joseph's crude choice of words. "We are a team, and regardless of how we spend this last day, we should do it together. In fact, there was something that I needed to discuss with all of you. Once I make sure the information I've gathered is concrete, then I think-"

"I GOT IT~!"

 ***SPLAT***

However, before Weiss could finish her proposal, she was cut off when a coconut cream pie was sent flying right into her face. In response, she only stood there, frozen for a moment, before the tray of the pie fell to the floor and she directed her cream-covered face towards the perpetrators.

 _ **ゴ**_

 _ **ゴ**_

 _ **ゴ**_

 _ **ゴ**_

In response to the ice-cold glare that the heiress was sending their way, Nora almost immediately tried to throw the blame onto an exasperated Ren, gesturing wildly towards him behind his back while Jaune looked on in shock and Pyrrha simply covered her mouth.

' _Yikes. Call me crazy, but I think all this brewing tension is about to come to a head in the worst way possible…'_

And while whether it was the worst or not depended on your own interpretation, there was no denying that Joseph was completely right when he assumed that the newfound tension in the dining hall was about to come to a head.

* * *

 **(Outside the dining hall.)**

"So then we were all fighting the guy at once, but he was super-tough, and then another guy came in and started shooting at everyone and threw explosive donuts at the guy we were fighting! Just like I did earlier! Except explosive!" Sun rattled off excitedly, recounting the events that occurred at Vale's docks to his team partner and best pal, Neptune Vasilias. Currently, the two of them were walking outside Beacon's dining hall, with Sun hoping they could find the entrance so he could introduce him to Team RWBY and their friends. He heard around the grape vine, AKA Ruby, that the team was getting together with their friends for lunch, and what better time than now to introduce Neptune to Vale's resident ass-kickers?

"Nice! Sounds like you had a fun time, all things considered." Neptune remarked with a smile, listening intently to everything Sun told him.

"And that's not even the best part, either! Because it turns out that Blake is actually a faunus!" Sun continued, only realizing what he just said a moment _after_ he said it.

"...Uh, but that's a secret, alright?" The monkey faunus covered up hastily. "Gotcha. Top-secret." Neptune assured, however, Sun didn't seem entirely convinced that he would keep what he heard a secret.

"Hey, I really mean it here! This is a _**secret**_ secret! Not a 'I'm gonna go and tell Scarlet everything the moment Sun isn't looking' secret!"

"Woah, chill out, man! I got it." Neptune reassured him, putting up his hands in surrender. "I got it." He said once more, his cool smile and reassuring tone admittedly easing Sun's worries.

As the two of them continued their conversation, they were both completely oblivious to the rising panic and flying food that was going on inside the dining hall. This would've been understandable if it wasn't for the gigantic wall-sized windows evenly distributed throughout the building's wall and the fact that one unfortunate Jaune arc was sent flying into one of the windows they just passed by.

No, the two friends just continued on their merry way, unaware of the total war that was going on a few feet to their left.

"Okay, they're just in here and I'm really excited for you to meet them, so be cool! ...you're gonna be cool right?" Sun asked once they made it to the double-doors that led into the dining hall.

"Dude… c'mon." In response to Sun's question, Neptune simply stepped back and let his excitable friend take in his… everything, even flashing a pearly white smile to get his point across.

.

.

.

"Alright, fair enough." Sun admitted after a moment. Say what you want about Neptune, but he did fit the textbook definition of cool to a tee.

 ***SLAM!***

" **FOOD FIIIIIIGHT!"**

However, what the two friends found inside the dining hall was a far cry from what they were expecting. As soon as they stepped inside, the duo was greeted with a mob of various terrified students all running past the two of them, most of which were covered in various food toppings and screaming in horror about some kind of 'food fight' that was going on. At the very end of this mob was Joseph Joestar, an expression of urgency written across his face. He was currently backing out of the dining hall haphazardly before he pointed a glass bottle of soda back inside.

"TAKE COVER!" Joseph screamed, using his hamon to fire a stream of pressurized soda at whatever was causing the chaos inside the dining hall. It wasn't until he accidently bumped into Sun (who was now smiling gleefully at the chaos unfolding, mind you,) that he noticed the two wayward observers.

"Woah! Sunny Delight, great to see you, pal!" Joseph began happily, his urgent expression doing a complete 180 upon seeing the friendly monkey faunus that helped out during that fiasco at the docks. However, his expression soon changed to one of slight confusion when he saw Neptune. "...I have no idea who you are, but… uh… you're here too! Awesome!"

"Hey! JoJo! Great to see you again, man!" Sun greeted enthusiastically before looking past him and into the dining hall, the excited expression still plastered onto his face.

"Name's Neptune. Sup?" Neptune stated with a wave before looking past the Joestar with a rather concerned frown.

"'Sup?' Well, now that you mention it… things are actually lookin' kinda-"

 ***CRASH!***

Joseph didn't have enough time to finish that sentence before he felt something crash into the back of his head. Numbly touching the back of his head with two fingers and bringing them back, he saw that his fingers were now coated with a bright red substance. Ignoring the unfortunate implications of this discovery, the brunette simply looked back towards Sun and Neptune, who were both now looking at him with wide eyes.

.

.

.

"...yeah, things are lookin' a bit hectic right about now."

And with that accurate statement, the three of them simply stood at the entrance of the dining hall as they watched the absurd scene in front of them play out.

"MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I'M THE QUEEN OF THE CASTLE~! I'M THE QUEEN OF THE CASTLE AND YOU'RE ALL FILTHY RASCAAAALS~!"

"JUSTICE WILL BE SWIFT! JUSTICE WILL BE PAINFUL! AND IT WILL BE DELICIOUS!"

What happened next was by far one of the most intense and extravagant food fights that ever occurred in the history of Beacon Academy, possibly even all of Remnant. However, everybody who's familiar with the exploits of Team RWBY knows all too well how this turns out. So instead of rehashing the same tired food fight scene that so many others have written about constantly with literally no differences, let's just skip ahead and continue to more relevant and plot important matters, shall we? **(1)**

After what was by far the most intense and destructive food fight Sun, Neptune, and Joseph had ever seen in their lives, the dining hall was left in complete disrepair and destruction. Food smears of various colors stained the walls, the stone tables that the students used to eat were left toppled and shattered, Team JNPR was left defeated and plastered in various colored toppings at the very end of the hall, and at the very center of it was Team RWBY, all of it's members looking battered, messy, but triumphant.

"...I just love these guys~." Sun stated happily after a moment, all too pleased with what he just witnessed.

"Well whaddaya know! Turns out that thing that hit my head was actually a jar of strawberry jam~!" Joseph added in merrily, licking the sugary red substance off his fingers.

The two's merry mood was a far cry from Neptune's, who was more than a little irritated that his entire outfit was left slathered with purple toppings in wake of the battle.

 ***SLAM!***

Unfortunately, the lighthearted mood was brought to a screeching halt when one livid Glynda Goodwitch slammed open the double doors and marched past Joseph, Sun, and Neptune. She took a moment to overlook the mess in front of her before suddenly bringing her ice-cold stare towards Joseph, an accusatory look in her eyes.

"Hey, don't look at me, lady. I was just enjoying my lunch till those spazzes went off and tried to kill each other with food! My hands are clean of this mess!" Joseph said defensively, putting up his hands in surrender. It took Joseph another moment before he realized that some of the strawberry jam from before was still glazed onto his hands. This meant that Glynda literally had him red-handed.

.

.

.

"Well… uh… I meant all that in the figurative sense…" When the blonde instructor's gaze only narrowed, Joseph immediately went back on the defensive. "Hey! Stop giving me that damn look already, will ya!? I got this crap on my hands from a when some asshole threw a jar of jam at the back of my head! If anything, I'm the goddamn victim here!"

Glynda didn't say anything in response, she just pinched the bridge of her nose in increasing exasperation before began to clean up. With a flick of her riding crop, all of the destroyed food and splayed about tables and seats began to float back into place. Within moments, most of the dining hall looked as though it hadn't been ravaged by a figurative and very literal food hurricane.

"Children…" The blonde instructor growled, barely able to control her temper. " _Please,_ do _not_ play with your food!"

In response to hearing this, both teams merely sat down on the newly fixed tables, unwilling to push the furious instructor any further, and for a moment, a rather tense silence overtook the dining hall...

 _*Cruuumble…!*_

"UUGH!"

 ***CRASH!***

Well, at least until Yang suddenly crashed down from the ceiling of the hall, bringing clumps of stone and debris with her.

Just when Glynda looked as though she was about to burst, however, Ozpin suddenly strode into the dining hall and put a hand on his colleague's shoulder. "Let it go…" The blonde woman looked as though she was about to retort before she let out a sigh.

"They're supposed to be the defenders of the world…"

"And they will be," Ozpin assured her. "but right now they're still children. So why not let them play the part? After all… it isn't a roll they'll have forever." And with that, the enigmatic headmaster turned around and started to walk back towards the dining hall's exit.

' _Well... that's pretty ominous.'_ Joseph thought as he rubbed the back of his head, well within earshot of the teachers' discussion, and judging by the looks of confusion on Sun and Neptune's faces, he wasn't the only one.

"Mr. Joestar," Ozpin began as he passed by Joseph, stopping briefly to look at him."There's something that I need to discuss with you in my office. If you would please, just come with me." And with that, the grey-haired man continued on his way out the double doors.. Once she was certain that everything in the hall was up to snuff, Glynda began to follow after him, stopping only to gesture for Joseph to follow them.

Confused, but willing to abide by his request, Joseph began to follow after the two members of Beacon's staff, but not before turning to address both Sun and Neptune. "Well fellas, looks like I gotta go and talk to the big man himself about something, so I'll see you both around. Let's talk some more later."

"Seeya dude!"

"Nice meeting you."

However, what none of them were aware of was the fact that someone else noticed the Joestar leave the dining hall.

"Hey guys? Later on today, can we all meet up at the dorms? There's something that I think I should inform you all of…"

* * *

As Joseph stood to the right of both Ozpin and Glynda, he found himself unsure as to what he should say. Neither the headmaster of Beacon nor his colleague bothered to explain why they needed to speak with him on their way over to the tower, and it didn't really help put the Joestar at ease. After another moment of silence, Joseph decided he would just skip the pretense and get to what he thought was the heart of this matter.

"...This ain't about that whole mess at the dining hall, right? Because I was just a casualty in all that. Seriously!"

"No need to worry Mr. Joestar. We haven't called you here for any grievances." Ozpin assured him, his eyes still facing the front of the elevator.

"Really? Then why are you calling me up here all of a sudden like this?"

"Well, to put it simply, there's an associate of mine that I'd like you to meet. He's been looking forward to meeting with you for quite some time, actually."

"Huh!? Why the hell would some buddy of yours be interested in meeting me?" The brunette demanded, his tone both skeptical and suspicious. However, tone soon changed to one of shock and hope with his next train of thought. "Wait a sec! Is he someone that can help me get back home!?"

"It's… all a rather complicated issue, Joseph. Just wait, we'll explain everything to you once we reach our destination. It'll be easier that way."

"Alright, if you say so." Joseph shrugged, leaning back against the elevator's wall. _'Not really a fan of being kept in the dark about something like this, but I guess I won't have to wait too long…'_

And true enough, they didn't. After another moment of waiting, the brunette felt the elevator coming to a stop before it's doors opened, revealing Ozpin's office to Joseph for the first time. He had to admit, it was certainly eye catching. However, after taking a moment to take in the profound design of the headmaster's office, he noticed that there was a fourth person in the room. He was sitting back on a cushiony chair that was in front of what Joseph assumed was Ozpin's desk and was reading through what appeared to be a news article on his scroll. He continued to read the contents of his scroll until he noticed Ozpin, glynda, and their third guest walking into the room, causing him to close the device and turn towards them.

"Wh-What the!? That's-! You're…!"

And what Joseph saw when the man turned around shocked him greatly.

To go into detail, what Joseph saw was a rather dapper looking man that was dressed up in three-piece suit and a bowler cap. He had a rather rugged face that contrasted greatly with his fair-haired mullet that went down to his shoulders. However, it was worth noting that there was a rather gentle kindness in the man's onyx eyes that gave him a sense of approachability. It was as though you could trust this man to have your back in a rough situation no matter how terrible it got.

Taking all of this into account, Joseph realized that this man was the spitting image of-

"I take it by your reaction that you're acquainted with a version of me in your own world, eh?" The blonde man asked with a straight face, having anticipated Joseph's shocked reaction. "Well, just to make sure we're all on the same page, I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Robert Edward O. Speedwagon The 3rd, the third in my family's line to inherit the Speedwagon Metal Processing Corporation."

As Speedwagon continued his introduction to the shocked Joestar, a rather amused smile began to grow on his face. "Well, I suppose that's only one side to my organisation's business venture's. The Speedwagon Foundation real goal lies researching and protecting the people of Remnant from paranormal threats completely separate to that of the creatures of Grimm. In any case, Joseph Joestar, I must say I'm very pleased to finally meet you in person." The man, Speedwagon the 3rd, finished, holding out his hand for Joseph to shake.

"Ever since I've heard my grandfather's tales about his adventures with Jonathan Joestar, I've always held a desire to meet a person similar to the amazing man my grandfather fought with. To say it's a pleasure to meet you in person would be a severe understatement."

"Wh…. WHAT THE HEEELLLLLL!? Speedwagon had a grandson!? And he's running some crazy paranormal organisation that was founded with my grandad's fortune!? TALK ABOUT A ONE-TWO PUNCH!" Joseph finally yelled out in shock, bringing his hands up to his face in an almost comical matter. Upon seeing this, Glynda found herself torn between exasperation and confusion, Ozpin merely watched the unfolding events with curiosity, and Speedwagon just looked surprised.

"Hold on a moment. You're saying that the Speedwagon you knew was actually a version of my grandfather?" Now this was a surprise. Speedwagon had done some thinking ever since he heard Ozpin's explanation regarding Joseph, and figured that this Joestar would be acquainted with a parallel version of himself, not his grandfather.

" Uh… I dunno, maybe? What I mean to say is that I don't think there's a version of you in my world." Joseph explained as best he could, scratching the side of his head as he thought of how he should word this. "The Speedwagon I know is a really old wrinkly guy with his big scar on the left side of his face. He wasn't 'the third,' or 'the fifth' or whatever either. Last time I checked, he was just good ol' Speedwagon. No numbers included. Still… pretty crazy though, didn't think there'd be a version of Speedwagon's business here too. Talk about crazy..."

"I see… I suppose this means my grandfather never got married or had kids in your world then, did he?" Speedwagon contemplated, rubbing his chin in thought. The world Joseph Joestar was from must've been drastically different from that of Remnant if there was a change as drastic as that.

"That still does rather a rather concerning question, however." Ozpin chimed in at long last, a neutral expression on his face. "Joseph how _**did**_ you know about Remnant's Speedwagon if this is the first time you've heard of the Speedwagon Corporation? And for that matter, why were you so surprised when you found out Speedwagon was the third in a family line? Was because of the explanation regarding your world's Speedwagon, orrrr… was it something else entirely?" Not once during Ozpin's explanation did he sound suspicious of accusatory, merely curious.

"Uh… well y'see… that's kinda..." Joseph trailed off for a moment before he let out a frustrated sigh and spoke up once more. "Alright, I'll tell how I figured this all out, but just do me a favor and promise you won't stick me in some loony bin after I finish explaining, got it?"

"I wasn't planning on doing something like that regardless of your explanation, but very well." Ozpin answered, a deadpan tone in his voice as he took another sip out of his mug.

"Alright, so it's like this… A while back, when I first ended up here, I started getting a lot of these really weird dreams. The reason why they were so damn bizarre is because they were… well… they were showing me the life of someone who's been dead for god knows how long." Ever since his final dream that showcased Jonathan Joestar's death, nothing like those visions happened again. Any dreams he had after that were just normal, run-of-the-mill dreams.

"You were… having visions then?" Ozpin asked, wanting to confirm what he just heard.

"Yeah, visions, I guess that's a better way of wording it. Anyway, the reason why I know about the elder Speedwagon in this world, and why I already know all about Jonathan Joestar and all that crap with the bastard Dio is because those dreams let me witness a good chunk of his life through his eyes." Joseph finished explaining, looking pretty uncomfortable.

"You had visions of Jonathan Joestar's life!? That's incredible! I don't believe I've ever heard of something so outlandish!... Well, maybe a few things, but that's besides the point!" Speedwagon proclaimed excitedly, amazed by what he was hearing. This young man from another dimension was able to witness Jonathan Joestar's clash with Dio firsthand! He had a lot of questions bouncing around in his mind right now, but decided to hold off on them for now.

"You're telling me, young Speedwagon. At first, I thought that I was somehow witnessing the life of my world's Jonathan Joestar, but I eventually found out that everything I saw actually took place right here." Joseph explained, simply pointing downward as he said this. "I was hoping at the very end of them, I'd learn something, _anything,_ about why I experienced them, or how I ended up here through them, but I just got jack squat. It's friggin annoying."

"Maybe… maybe it's some kind of link between bloodlines!" Speedwagon realized. "Perhaps there's some kind of link to the Joestar family of Remnant that allowed Joseph here to have visions of this world's Jonathan Joestar's life! Yes, that must be it!"

"That wouldn't actually be out of the question." Glynda cut in. "It is known that families with a powerful bloodline can inherit powers and semblances. With that in mind, it's possible that some kind of similar scenario ensued with Mr. Joestar."

"My thoughts exactly. However, the Joestar bloodline of Remnant was effectively wiped out a century ago. How can there be a link between Joseph here and a bloodline that doesn't exist anymore?" The expression on Speedwagon's face was very thoughtful, as though he was contemplating every possible scenario in his head. There was no doubt that the circumstances that brought Joseph Joestar to Remnant are somehow linked with the Joestar bloodline of Remnant, but how? What exactly happened?

"Alright. Well knowing all this is all fine and dandy, but it still doesn't explain how I ended up in an ass-backwards world like this or how I'm supposed to get back home!" Joseph said angrily, his voice steadily rising as his bottled-up frustration with this entire situation he'd been forced into since defeating Kars came to a head. "I've been stuck in a goddamn magic fantasy world with crazy-ass tech that would make the Nazis jealous for more than half a year and I STILL have no freakin' idea how to get back to my home! I've been here for fucking months now! How much longer is this supposed to go on for!?"

 ***WHAP***

"OW! WHAT THE HELL!?" Joseph suddenly burst upright, looking behind him to see whatever the hell hit him in the back of the head, although he didn't even have to look behind him to know who did it.

"Mr. Joestar, I'm getting very sick of having to deal with your constant attitude and foul language. Watch your mouth." The blonde instructor said sternly, her eyes narrowed.

"Glynda…" Ozpin sighed, although he didn't have time to finish that sentence before Joseph spoke up.

"Yeah well… I'd like to see you keep your composure when end up in some crazy-ass world with no way to get back to your family." The brunette shot back weakly, still rubbing the back of his head

"I can understand the reason behind your frustration. But don't forget that in addition to trying to help you return home, we have been giving you a roof over your head, keeping you feed, and have given you a way to learn more about the world you find yourself stuck in. The least you could do in return is try to mind your manners and stay out of trouble."

"Yeah? And just how well has that been going, huh? Made any big breakthroughs?" Joseph argued, a defensive and accusatory tone in his voice.

"Up until a few moments ago, we hadn't even the slightest clue as to how you ended up on Remnant. With this in mind, and taking into consideration that the government hasn't been working on something as outlandish as transdimensional travel, you need to understand that we don't exactly have a lot of work with." the stern instructor sighed, already anticipating another smartass remark from the volatile youth. However, she was caught off guard when Joseph merely let out a small sigh and looked down towards the ground, his body language sullen.

"Yeah… I kinda figured that was the case…" Joseph sighed, his demeanor a far cry from what he was usually like. "Sorry. I… I honestly do appreciate everything you've all done… I guess I'm just getting pretty homesick…"

After it was said, that weary comment just hung in the air for a moment, shining Joseph's entire situation a far more depressing light. For an indefinite amount of time, this young man, who wasn't even legally an adult yet, had no way of seeing his family, friends, or home planet again. Unless some kind of solution presented itself, Joseph had no way to go back home. It was a cold, hard, fact that was no doubt made worse now that he met what was essentially a younger version of his godfather.

' _Poor lad… either the reality of the situation's finally beginning to sink in, or he's known about it for a while and was just pretending he wasn't bothered by it. Either answer isn't very uplifting...'_ Speedwagon thought as he looked at the downtrodden Joseph, pity beginning to well up within him.

In response to this, Glynda's eyes widened slightly, clearly having not expected the normally boisterous youth to become so downtrodden. Feeling the oddest sense of pity for the Joestar, she cleared her throat to get his attention and spoke up once more.

"...Enough with the sullen behavior, there's no need to be so downtrodden. It's not like we've given up. If anything, Speedwagon's presence here and information gives us much more to work with… Just try and keep your chin up and out of trouble and I assure you that we'll find a way to get you back home." She explained, trying her best to sound reassuring, which admittedly wasn't much.

"Huh… I guess that's one way of lookin' at it." However, her words seemed to have done their job, for Joseph's downtrodden expression fading away as he sat back up. "Thanks… I honestly feel a lot better." Joseph smiled, looking genuinely thankful. In response, Glynda merely averted her gaze before she responded, a neutral expression still clear in her face. "Yes, well, I'm just reiterating what we've already been doing. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Hehe… would you look at that. You act like a hard-ass 90 percent of that time, but deep down, you're just a big ol' softie, aintcha?" Joseph pointed playfully, his usual demeanor coming back in full.

 ***SMACK***

"YEOWCH!"

"...less than two sentences and I'm already regretting saying anything…" Glynda sighed as Joseph nursed his bruised hand.

"If you're both done, then there is something that I'd like to tell Joseph." Speedwagon suddenly spoke up. When Joseph looked in his direction, waiting for him to say his piece, the blonde man straightened out his suits coat and began to speak, doing his best to come off as reassuring.

"Joseph, I understand that you're likely very frustrated by your entire situation, as your little outburst proves, but I'd like to assure you that from here on out, you'll now have a new ally dedicated to helping you in your efforts to return to your world. In fact, I already have a few ideas as to how you ended up in this world..."

"Wow… I mean…" Joseph trailed off, honestly not expecting to hear something like this. "I uh… I'm not tryin' to look a gift horse in the mouth or anything, but… why are you so eager to lend me a hand here? I get that you admire the Joestar family thanks to this world's version of my grandpa, but I'm not him and I haven't even done anything for you. Why all the friendliness?"

In response to this question, Speedwagon let out a few chuckles before he responded, confidence clear in his voice. "I'll keep this brief for you Joseph. My grandfather was a man who was born in the slums and spent his early life learning the in's and out's of that kind of life. One the most useful abilities he picked up during that time was an ability that's been runs in my family's blood. It let's me smell out a person's soul."

'' _Smell out a person's soul?' Where have I…! Oh yeah, I think my Speedwagon mentioned he could do something like that back when I was younger. It was on one of the business trips he took me with…'_ Joseph didn't say anything when he realized this, merely letting this young version of Speedwagon continue.

"The minute I saw you walk into this room with Glynda and Ozpin, Joseph Joestar, I caught the smell of an honorable and just man. A man who's willing to fight against putrid evil when it rears it's ugly head and threatens innocent people. Underneath that punkish personality of yours, you fit the description of a Joestar perfectly, regardless of whatever parallel world you are from. It would be a pleasure to help a man such as yourself return to his home. From this day forward, you have the full support of the Speedwagon Corporation." As he said this, the hotblooded and dapper man whipped a card out of his suit pocket and presented it to a stunned Joseph. The card was an Onyx black with words _**'Speedwagon Corporation'**_ etched onto it in white, along with this was a rather old-fashioned wheel etched into the center of the card. "I intend to stay in Vale for a while longer to get a proper understanding of the situation at hand, but if you ever desire my company's support after I'm done here, then just dial the number on that card into your scroll and we'll offer whatever support we can."

"H-Holy crap! I'm feelin' so honored! First Ms. Strict And Stern is trying to be nice to me and now I got an entire corporation run by a young Speedwagon supporting me!? Is today my birthday or something!?" Joseph breathed out, honestly shocked by all the swerves this day was taking. First he witnesses the foodfight to end all foodfights, then he runs into a younger version of Speedwagon with no scar, and NOW said younger version of Speedwagon is gonna start trying to help him get back home!? What next!? Was Kars gonna suddenly crash into Remnant and land in Ozpin's office!?

" **...** Perhaps we can discuss this topic more in-depth at a later time. If I recall correctly, there are still some matters that we have yet to explain to young Joseph." Ozpin spoke up, drawing Joseph out of his shocked stupor.

"Ah, right you are, Ozpin! Joseph, I assure you that we will discuss the circumstances of how you ended up on Remnant and how to bring you home much more later on. However, there is another important bit of information that we felt you should know." Speedwagon explained to the young Joestar

"Tch? You serious?" Joseph complained, clearly upset that he'd have to put this conversation on hold when it looked like he was finally beginning to make some progress. That being said, while Speedwagon didn't look particularly bothered by the statement, a sharp glare from Glynda and a gaze from Ozpin that made it feel like he was peering into his soul effectively cut off any future comments. "Fine fine! Say whatever the hell you want! Just stop giving me those creepy goddamn looks!"

After repressing a few chuckles at his indignant response, Speedwagon took the chance to speak up. "Well Joseph, it came to my attention when Ozpin was explaining everything that you possess a rather _**「**_ _ **unique ability.**_ _ **」"**_

"Huh? You're gonna have to be a bit more specific young Speedwagon. Are you talkin' about _**「**_ _ **this,**_ _ **」**_ " Joseph questioned, spawning the purple vines of his stand in his left hand to get his point across. "Or _ **「**_ _ **this?**_ _ **」**_ " Continuing with his trend, he left his hamon spark in right hand. With both his main abilities laid out for his new ally, the Joestar waiting expectantly for his response.

"Ah…" Upon seeing this, Speedwagon found himself at an utter loss for words. The powers he was referring to were indeed those bundle of vines sprouting out of his left hand, but the magnificent power that was radiating out of his right completely captivated him. Ozpin had informed him of it in advance two days prior, but seeing it first-hand like this was something else entirely!

"Amazing… Ozpin told me of this when he informed me of you. This is that power you can generate through breathing, isn't it? The ancient martial art native to your world known as the Ripple!"

" Well, I just call it hamon, but yeah, the very same." Joseph admitted cockily, snapping his right hand's fingers to briefly brighten the glow of his hamon, sending small sparks of the energy flying.

"Interesting… I was told by Ozpin that the warriors of your world used this technique to fight off vampires, correct?" Speedwagon continued to ask, his natural curiosity getting the better of him.

"Yeah, pretty much. Not too sure how vampires work around here, or if they're even a problem here, but back where I'm from, nothing short of direct sunlight, complete destruction of the brain, or a healthy blow filled to the brim with hamon will kill those bloodsucking freaks." The brunette explained, going over the three methods he knew of that killed vampires for good.

"Amazing! And to think that you generate this energy with your own breathing!" Speedwagon marveled, more than impressed with what he saw. "We do indeed have vampires here in Remnant, and they seem to die the same way in your world, but it's a shame to say we didn't have anything nearly as on-hand as this 'hamon.' Our world's substitute seems to be a variation of dust that emits a powerful ultraviolet light. Unfortunately, it's a very rare variation of dust, which hasn't been any easier to acquire with the passage of time."

"Sounds pretty rough, man." Joseph drawled out before the subject at hand made him realize something. "Say, since you guys have stone relics that turn people into vampires here, and since there are apparently alternate versions of people here too, would that mean there are alternate versions of the Pillar men here too?"

"'P...Pillar men? What are you talking about? And what do they have to do with the stone daggers?" Speedwagon asked, growing confused.

"If I recall correctly, you mentioned these 'Pillar Men' to be the architects of the devices that turn people into vampires in your world, correct?" Ozpin mentioned, recalling the explanation Joseph gave him regarding the monsters of his world. In essence, he explained that they were a race of superhuman beings that created the stone masks of his world to improve themselves even further and evolve. When used on a human being, it would lead to them transforming into a vampire.

"Well, just one of them, actually. This bastard that went by the name Kars. That fucker was a real piece of work." As he said this, the hatred in Joseph's voice upon mentioning Kars was all too clear. "In my world, he made the stone masks to surpass every living being. He wanted to become the Ultimate Lifeform."

But he failed. You and your allies stopped him from accomplishing this, correct?" The CEO questioned, his tone apprehensive

"Oh no, he succeeded, I just defeated him anyway." Joseph boasted, a nonchalant tone in his voice. "I mean, why do you think I launched myself out of my planet's atmosphere? The bastard was completely invincible by every stretch of the word. But then I realized, if nothing on Earth can touch him, then all I have to do is get him off the planet! One plane crash and volcanic eruption later, both of which yours truly was responsible for, I did just that!" During this victorious boast, the Joestar made sure to omit that he only managed to launch Kars into space through sheer luck and unconscious reactions alone.

"I… don't quite recall you mentioning this in your explanation." Ozpin muttered, admittedly caught off guard by what I was hearing.

"Well I gotta have _some secrets,_ now don't I? It adds to my roguish charm and appeal." The brunette teased, a cat-like smirk all too clear on his face.

"Well, I honestly don't know what to tell you Joseph. I've been working at my position for over a decade now and I haven't seen any trace of these Pillar Men." Speedwagon said, clutching his chin slightly in thought. "My corporation's scouting teams have found various caverns all over Remnant, and in those caverns are chambers that look to be centuries old, with stone daggers decorating their walls. The strange part is, though, is that there was nothing guarding the relics when we found them. There was no security measures, no form of monster or Grimm guarding them. _Nothing."_

Joseph made sure to hide his surprise when he heard this. There was _nothing_ guarding those daggers when they were found? That was the exact opposite of what happened back on Earth, where Kars had one of the last surviving members of his race guarding a chamber full of stone masks. Did that mean whatever was supposed to be guarding those daggers just moved on, or did something else happen to it?

"It's just a good thing those caverns were all in out of the way locations. I shudder to think of what would happen if those daggers fell into the wrong hands…" Speedwagon shuddered, the very idea of all those stone daggers they found in that cavern being found by some tyrannical bastard sending chills down his spine. "In any case, however, we can discuss the exact purpose behind those daggers at a later time. For the time being let's stay on topic."

Now then Joseph, when I was referring to the special ability you hold, I was in fact referring to that bundle of purple vines in your hand. " As he said this, the dapper man pointed towards the bundle of vines that were still sprouting out of Joseph's left hand. "Now, are you aware of what this is?"

"Yeah, sure! I've known all about what my _ **「**_ _ **Hermit Purple**_ _ **」**_ is for awhile now! Just because I'm not from around here doesn't mean I've been living under a rock since I got here." Joseph answered confidently, letting the purple vines fade away.

" _ **「**_ _ **Hermit Purple?**_ _ **」**_ You've named it? Well, that's one matter out of the way, then." Speedwagon thought aloud before he continued. "Well Joseph, I'm afraid that you actually have the wrong idea about your powers, because it is not in fact a semblance. While they have similar concepts, the power you have now is different league entirely from that of semblances. Auras and semblances are only a glimpse at the true power one's soul holds, while what you have now is the physical manifestation of that very power. It is known as a stand! A special power that only a select number of people on the planet of Remnant can tap into!"

When Speedwagon finished his explanation, he expected Joseph to react in the form of questions for him. What he didn't expect was for him to put his hands behind his hand and answer with complete and utter nonchalance.

"Oh, yeah. I've known about all that stuff for awhile now." The brunette said, leaning back into his chair to further increase his level of comfort. If he noticed the look of surprise that appeared on the adults' faces thanks to his words, he certainly didn't show that he did.

"You have!? How!? Did Ozpin inform you of your abilities!?" Speedwagon asked, a bewildered tone in his voice. If Speedwagon recalled correctly, one of the reasons Ozpin requested he come here was so he could inform the Joestar of the exact nature of his abilities. Apparently, the grey-haired man was well aware that the purple vines were a stand, but since he had a better understanding of the concept, he requested that he come to Beacon to explain things.

"Nah, nothing like that. I met another stand users a few months back, and he got me up to speed on the whole deal with them. Still doesn't explain why I can't get an aura to go along with it, though…" He muttered the last sentence under his breath, annoyance clear in his tone. He didn't let it show during what happened at the docks, but he was admittedly pissed that he couldn't get an aura and all of the benefits that come along with it. Having an invisible shield that softens blows automatically sounds like a pretty good deal, especially in batshit crazy world like this one.

"You met another stand user!? That's…! Actually, I really shouldn't be surprised, now that I think of it. Stand users DO tend to attract other stand users." The fact that Joseph had a run in with another stand user during his time on Remnant shouldn't really come as a surprise to Speedwagon.

"They do? Huh, well you learn something new every day. Anyway, the guy's name is Kishibe Rohan and his stand's name is _ **「**_ _ **Heaven's Door.**_ _ **」**_ The bare essentials that you need to know when it comes to his stand is that it lets him turn people into books." Joseph stated simply, much to the surprise of those around him. Ignoring this, he continued. "He can also manifest his stand in two ways. He can either draw his stand with something and get his target to look at it, or he can physically manifest it. The physical version of his stand works the same way, with the only difference being that the stand has to touch it's target to work it's magic."

"What exactly do you mean when you say this man can turn people into books...?" Glynda asked, which in turn caused Joseph to simply shrug his shoulders.

"I mean exactly that! When you're under the effects of his stand, you literally become an open book. You're skin starts peeling open, and instead of muscle, you find pages with information all about you written into them. You pretty much become a walking, talking autobiography." The Joestar explained, letting out a sigh of annoyance as he explained the next part. "...Aaaand in that state, he can pretty much do whatever he damn well pleases. Wants to find out everything about you and learn about your powers? He can do that. Wants to rip out pages that contain info about important events? He can do that. And mind you, that takes away chunks of your own memory too. Seriously, his stand is crazy dangerous. I'm just glad he doesn't use it for crappy reasons anymore…" Joseph muttered the final part under his breath.

"...you seem to have a very detailed knowledge of this Rohan fellows stand." Speedwagon noted, causing the muscular youth to groan in distaste.

"Well that's because initially, the crazy fucker wanted to use my life experiences for inspiration with his work and hobbies, so unfortunately for me, I've got first-hand experience with his stand. Remember how I said he could write commands that you have to obey? A good example of this is the fact that he wrote on my body that I couldn't harm him, and lo and behold, every single attack I throw at him won't connect no matter what happened. He calls em' 'safety locks.'" It still baffled him how every single hit he tried to land at the time just defied everything sensible and just moved around him whenever it was about to hit him. Speedwagon appeared to be surprised by what he was hearing, but at the same time, he had heard of many absurd stand abilities before, so at the same time, it was nothing he shouldn't have expected. Glynda, on the other hand, felt far more at shock by what she was hearing. She had seen many absurd things during her career as a huntress, but an ability that turns people into a human encyclopedia? That was something new. As for Ozpin, he appeared to be clinging onto every word Joseph said, listening intently and not saying a single word.

" Still, I was able to come out on top in the end. All I needed was to get some water on my face while I was all 'bookified' and his stand just falls apart like a wet paper towel. I naturally figured that the potency of Rohan's stand would be lessened if the ink he uses to write commands gets dampened, so I just capitalized on it. After that, he was pretty much done for, especially after Yang got her hands on him." Joseph lied through his teeth once more, a confident and boastful smirk on his face.

"Sounds to me like this Rohan fellow has a very powerful stand…" Speedwagon said once he got a decent grasp on the clothes designer's powers. The power to alter a person's memories, read through them, and write in commands that the victim has no choice but to obey. If this Rohan character was dangerous, then he might have to get some of his agents to keep an eye on him. Fortunately, Joseph's next words were able to put him at ease.

"You're tellin' me, man!. Still, after Yang beat the everloving shit outta him after I broke free of his stand, he hasn't been pulling any crap like that anymore. I hang out with him pretty often now, so I can vouch for him. He might be a serious weirdo sometimes, but Rohan isn't a bad guy." Joseph said dismissively, causing the dapper man to relax slightly. He looked as though he had something else to say, but was stopped when he suddenly noticed that he had Ozpin's full attention now. He wasn't sure when it happened, but something during Joseph's explanation must've piqued the headmaster's interested, because he was now sitting upright in his chair and looking at him with slightly wide eyes.

"So… you're saying that this man's powers allows him to alter the memories of another human being? That _**is**_ what you're telling us, correct?" He asked quickly, his gaze not letting up for a second.

"Uh… yeah, pretty much. Why the intense look?" Joseph asked, more than a little surprised by the sudden intensity in Ozpin's demeanor. However, just as soon as it came, it left, with the headmaster leaning back into his seat as though nothing happened.

"No reason… I'm just surprised with how versatile these 'stands' truly are. Robert gave me some information on their powers beforehand, but to hear about one of their effects and powers firsthand is truly something else." Ozpin said quickly, taking a sip out of his mug. "In any case, since Joseph already seems to have a good understand of stands as well as the situation at hand, I think we should put any further discussion on hold for now. Everything we've learned here today has given us all much to reflect on." He continued suddenly, briefly surprising everyone present.

"Are you sure about Ozpin? I still feel as though we have more to figure out." Speedwagon questioned. While they still covered the essentials in this conversation, the blonde man still felt that there was more he and Joseph had to discuss.

"Yes, I'm certain, Robert. I have no doubt that everything Joseph has learned today all at once was quite staggering. He should probably spend the rest of the evening resting while he can. Classes do start up again tomorrow." However, it seemed that Ozpin was adamant that they put this conversation on hold for now.

"Well, I'm not gonna go off and say all this wasn't a lot to take in." The brunette admitted when Speedwagon looked towards him for confirmation, putting his hand on the back on his neck to eased the now tensed muscles there."Tell you what though, young Speedwagon! When you wanna talk some more, just ring me up or look for me at the dorms. We can talk more then..."

"Very well, Joseph. If that's what you'd like." Speedwagon conceded, tipping his bowler hat back into place. "Well, I suppose that's our cue to leave, isn't it?"

Quite. Once again Robert, you have my utmost gratitude for going out of the way to come here. Thank you." Ozpin said, making his gratitude clear. In response, a pleasant smile made it's way onto Speedwagon's face before he began to walk towards the elevator.

"Trust me, professor, the pleasure was all mine. Well, I hope you all have a good night's sleep then. Good bye." As the elevator's doors began to close, the dapper gentleman looked back into the office with a confident smile on his face. "Speedwagon withdraws coolly…"

"Hey! Hold the elevator, will ya!?" Joseph yelled irritably, sliding into the elevator just as it was about to close, leaving Ozpin and Glynda alone in the room. As soon as the two of them were gone, a more serious, contemplative expression made it's way onto the usually relaxed headmaster's face, concerning Glynda slightly

"Professor, are you alright? You look quite… troubled."

"I'm fine Glynda. I just… I just have a lot to think about now…" Ozpin sighed, well aware that everything he learned today gave him a lot to think about.

* * *

 **(That evening.)**

""Phew…" Joseph breathed out as he walked through the dorm's halls. "That was a lot of stuff to take in…"

' _Still, this is good. Actually, it's better than good, it's great! That whole meeting felt like the first actual step towards getting back home! And I even know what I should be doing once I get the chance.'_ Joseph thought, his determination growing as he realized he finally had something to work with. _'Next time I talk with Speedwagon, I'll work on getting all the information about this version of my family off him. He was right. Whatever brought me here HAS to be linked with the Joestar family of Remnant. There's no goddamn way that it's just a coincidence!'_

And with that, the brunette's next course of action was decided: find out as much about the Joestar family of Remnant as possible. He already knew that they were situation and the truth behind Jonathan Joestar's death and that they were situated in Atlas, but there was still more he could find. Perhaps it would be in his best interest to find out the name of the ship Jonathan died on?

However, as he made it to the hallway where his room was located, he noticed someone in white standing by his door. When he got closer, the Joestar found that it was none other than Weiss Schnee. She looked fairly apprehensive and if the fact that she was waiting right outside his room, then he appeared to be waiting for him.

"Huh? What brings you here, Weissy? Thought you'd be out hanging out with your team."

"About that…" Weiss trailed off, looking as though she didn't know what to say next before she simply grabbed onto Joseph's arm and began to drag him off. "Just come with me, will you?"

"WOAH, Hey! Don't tug on the jacket, I just got it a few days ago!" Joseph protested as Weiss dragged him through the halls of the dorms, ignoring his protests. It was only when they made it to their destination, which was just another identical door, that the heiress let go of the brunette.

"Urgh! If you wanted me to go somewhere with you, you coulda' just asked!" Joseph said in annoyance, straightening out his bomber jacket. The heiress didn't say anything in response, merely taking a deep breath before opening the door to the dorm room and stepping inside. It was then that Joseph noticed that this was not only the inside of team RWBY's dorm room, but inside this room was the rest of team RWBY as well as team JNPR. All of them we just sitting around the room and talking before Weiss came in with Joseph.

"What? Did you guys start some kind of sowing circle while I wasn't looking?"

No one said anything in response, their looks varying from questioning to worried to just plain confused, which certainly put off Joseph. Did someone die while he wasn't looking?

"Joseph…" Weiss was the first to speak, opening up the book she held and holding it up in front of Joseph's face. The brunette wasn't sure what to make of any of this until he looked at the top of both pages, his heart skipping a beat when he saw the phrase _**'A brief account of the Joestar family's history'**_ written atop the pages in bold, capital letters.

"Would you mind clearing this up for us?"

' _Ohhhhh boy…'_

* * *

 **(Two days earlier. Several hours after the attempted assassination of Tukson.)**

' _Christ. I think it's finally starting to dawn on me just how long I've been at this job for...'_ Roman thought as he leaned back into one of the many dust shipment containers and watched the various White Fang members unload their latest catch, taking another inhale of his cigar as he did so.

' _I've spent the last several month's bleeding this kingdom's dust supply dry, and Cinder still hasn't bothered to tell me what we even need it for.'_ He thought with distaste, exhaling a steady black stream of smoke from his mouth. _'Certainly would be nice if I actually knew what we were gonna do with all this dust, but I guess that'd make my life a little_ too _easy, now wouldn't it?_

' _Ah well, I suppose a guy can dream.'_ Pushing those thoughts out of his head, the dapper thief figured he should get to work on planning out their next mark. Standing up straight once more, he ventured further into the warehouse until he found himself standing in a rather dimly lit and secluded part of the building. His cane ***Clicking*** with every step he took, he made his way over to a table that had a small briefcase on it and a large map of Vale overlooking it. However, the dim lighting of the area combined with the map's accumulated wear and tear made it more than a little difficult to clearly decipher the map's contents.

"Rrrgh… I can't see a thing like this." Roman groaned, more than a little annoyed. Deciding to increase the lighting a bit more, the thief reached towards one of those lamps on his left and groped around it for the **ON** button, his eyes still trying to make out the information he put down on the map. However, after a moment of searching, the thief realized that this lamp didn't have an on switch of any kind.

' _Perfect… Fan-Fucking-_ _ **Tastic.**_ _Not even the most menial of things can go my way these days, now can they?''_ Roman growled, his frustration growing with each passing second before looking upwards… only to be greeted with a very disturbing sight as he did so.

"What the hell!?" He barked, quickly standing back up straight and hastily backing away from the lamps. The reason why Roman was so disturbed was because the moment he looked upwards, he was greeted with what looked like some metallic, reptilian monster with it's face frozen mid-roar. The moment his brief boost of adrenaline died down, however, he realized that he wasn't dealing with anything along those lines. Instead, he was just dealing with a pair of the most hideously designed pair of lamps that he'd ever seen in his , for some reason, whoever designed these two lamps saw fit to make them look like a pair of _ **「**_ _ **metallic reptilian monsters.**_ _ **」**_

"Well! Isn't this a winning combo!" Roman remarked dryly, looking at the disturbing lamps with an expression of distaste on his face. "Creepy as hell with no goddamn ON button. Gotta wonder what kind of dump those animals were scrounging through when they found these pieces of crap…"

Annoying little problems like these certainly made Roman miss the days he lived before he met Cinder and her merry little band of psychos. Just himself and the occasional partner against a world full of suckers just begging to lose their Lien. Then, Ms. 'Creepy and Monotone' came along and basically strong-armed him into helping her out, lest he end up on the wrong end of that nasty fire trick of hers.

Still, if there had to be any kind of silver lining to this whole mess, it had to have been that the experience left with the best goddamn partner in his entire career. Sure, Neo was a bit strange to be around at first, what with her refusing to say a word to practically anyone and that her eyes were apparently the organic equivalent to a mood ring, but after a few jobs and brawls together, the little psycho grew on Roman in no time flat! And it seemed like the feeling was mutual too. Hell, if Roman played his cards right, then he could very well be walking out of this job with a reliable business partner AND someone he could actually trust!… along with the hefty payoff he'd make sure to receive from Cinder once all is said and done, of course.

However, just as Roman turned around to go complain to the animals about their crappy lighting equipment, he was greeted with the two most insufferable brats on Remnant strutting towards him like they owned the place. However, instead of feeling the annoyance and infuriation he normally experienced when dealing with Cinder's two lapdogs, he felt a sense of glee and smug superiority, and could you blame him? Finding out that his two biggest annoyances since taking this job were gonna be in hot water with their _dear Cinder_ after outright disobeying her orders was a very satisfying realization once Roman pieced two and two together.

"Well hey there! If it isn't Vale's favorite duo of fugitives!" Roman began, faux enthusiasm in his voice as he greeted the pair. "So how's the day been for the both of you, hmm? Having fun sticking to the sewer lines to steer clear of the coppers? I imagine that assassination attempts aren't crimes our dear boys in blue forgive very easily."

"What!? How do you-!?" Emerald began, only to be caught off by the white-clad thief.

"Yeah, not sure if either of you fuck-ups have realized this yet, but when you're in charge of the biggest Dust theft operation this side of Remnant, you're kind of the first to get important news. And can you _**imagine**_ my surprise when word gets out that some grey-haired punk and his ratty thief of a partner are at the top of Vale's most wanted because of a failed assassination? It was like christmas came early and Santa left me a small fortune!" Roman rattled off gleefully, enjoying the look of anger on both Emerald's and Mercury's faces.

"Don't give us any of that crap, you slimeball! The only reason we're in this situation to begin with is because we took it upon ourselves to do _your job!_ " Emerald shot back defensively. This comment caused the glee to fade from the thief's face and be replaced with an annoyed scowl.

" _I had that under control,_ you impatient brats." Roman growled, only to get a scoff from Mercury in response.

"You did? That's funny, because two packed bags and a ticket out of Vale said otherwise." For a moment, Roman looked as though he was going to get even more furious, but it was soon replaced with a look of smug superiority.

"Say whatever the hell you want, but the fact of the matter is is that the two of you screwed up here, not me." The ginger thief sneered, point his cane at Mercury to get his point across. "And I can only _imagine_ how furious Cinder will be when she finds out the two of you stirred up so much heat like this."

" _ **Well, you're not exactly wrong, Roman. I am not happy."**_ Any rebuttal Mercury or Emerald died in their throats when they heard a sickly smooth voice that they were all too familiar with drawl out from above. Looking above, the two partners in crime fell a weight form in both their stomachs when they saw the eerily elegant form of Cinder Fall watching them all from a platform above.

"Oh would you look at that? Speak of the devil." Roman snidely remarked, completely relaxed as Cinder fall used the platform's lift to head down to ground level, her eyes glued on her subordinates the entire time.

"So… may I ask why the both of you saw fit to disobey a direct order from me?" The red-clad woman questioned, the lack of emotion in her voice doing nothing to put her two subordinates at ease.

"I...I! The only reason why we went to take the rat out was because _he_ was skimping out on his job!" Emerald tried to explain herself, pointing towards Roman accusingly as she spoke. "If we hadn't done anything, then-"

"If you hadn't done anything, then I would've taken care of that whole matter on my own, and much more tactfully too, mind you. Now, the guy's being protected by the police with no easy way to get to him. So yeah. Good going there." Roman interrupted, enjoying what he was witnessing all too much. Ignoring him, Cinder spoke up once more.

"I _specifically_ instructed that the both of you keep your hands clean while and Vale. And because of your actions, I'm going to have to make some bothersome adjustments…" Cinder drawled out coldly, causing both Emerald and Mercury to flinch under her unyielding gaze. "Since the police and Vale government are now well aware of what you look like, neither of you can go undercover with me, and I can imagine that a singular transfer student from Haven Academy with no team would look _very_ suspicious, now wouldn't it?"

"I… we just thought that-"

" _Don't think._ _ **Obey.**_ "

Unable to meet her eyes, Emerald could only look at the floor as she responded. "...Yes ma'am. It won't happen again."

"And you..." Cinder continued, her gaze drifting towards their orange-haired accomplice. "This entire situation wouldn't have been an issue if you took care of this sooner. Why?" However, rather than reacting in fear or intimidation, Roman instead began to laugh. Like he heard a legitimately funny joke that caught him by surprise.

"Uhhhh… Ehhh?" When he regained control of his voice, he gestured towards the many sets of containers containing all kinds of dust to his right.

"Ehhhh!" With a more annoyed tone in his voice, he mirrored his previous action, this time gesturing towards the containers to his left.

EHHH!?" With an overblown and exaggerated voice, he gestured towards the entirety of the warehouse, making the overabundance of dust it was housing all too clear. "Sorry if stealing every spec of dust in the kingdom hasn't left me with the time to take care of some White Fang runaway!"

"You're an inspiration to every thug with a hockey mask." Mercury deadpanned, clearly not impressed by Roman's defensive remark.

"Look around you kid, I've got this town running scared." The self proclaimed master thief pointed out. "Police camping out at every corner, dust prices through the roof, and we're sitting in an old warehouse with more dust crystals, rounds, and vials than we know what to do with!"

"Speakin' of which" Turning away from the many containers, Roman looked back towards his employer, a questioning look on his face. "I've been going at this job for several months now, and I STILL don't know what we need all this dust for. Do you think you could shed some light on that whole issue? Maybe if I actually knew what role it's supposed to fill in this 'grand master plan' of yours, then it MIGHT my next string of robberies go a little smoother!"

Oh Roman… have a little faith..." In response to his question, Cinder merely reached out and caressed her associate's cheek. The action might've been supposed to come off as comforting, but considering who was doing it, it just filled Roman with apprehension, which might've been intention for all he knew. "You'll know what you need when you need to know it…"

For a brief moment, he could've sworn her eyes flickered with some kind of light before returning to a more subdued shade of yellow.

"Rrrgh…" Roman didn't say anything in response, averting his gaze from Cinder's eerie golden eyes. The red-clad woman looked as though she had more to say, but was interrupted when a voice no one recognized spoke up.

"That really does sound like a pain in the ass…" A calm voice drawled out between some shipping containers, alerting the four of them. Looking towards the source of the voice, Roman, Emerald, Mercury, and even Cinder surprised to see that the one who was listening in on their conversation happened to be a White Fang soldier. The uniform this soldier was wearing was identical to any other, and because of this, his only noteworthy feature was the _**「**_ _ **long and green reptilian tail**_ _ **」**_ that was wagging slowly behind him, making it clear that regardless of whoever this person was, he was indeed a faunus.

"Being a part of some grand scheme, yet not even knowing what the end-game is supposed to be like. Sounds like a pretty annoying issue to deal with if you ask me..." The strange White Fang soldier continued, taking a brief glance at the map of Vale Roman had set up as he walked out from between the shipping containers. "But still… if the payoff is good enough, then I think some people would be willing to do anything, regardless of the reason. I bet some people would be happy to even eat rocks as long as they were properly compensated."

"Riiiiight…" Roman began, giving the strange reptilian White Fang member a look that bordered on annoyance and confusion. "Look pal, I'm not exactly sure if you got the memo or anything, but grunters like you aren't supposed to be listening in on conversations like these. So why don't you just go back to doing your job and pretend this didn't happen, and we'll do the same. Understand?"

"Oh, good idea, just let the guy who was eavesdropping on us walk away, boss. Because it'd be great to have another Tukson on our hands, with the only difference being this creep probably heard some things he wasn't supposed to hear." Mercury cut in sarcastically, his narrowed gaze on this enigmatic White Fang soldier.

"I… can't believe I'm saying this, but I kind of agree with Mercury on this one." Emerald added in, her hands inching towards her pistols. "I don't think we should just let this guy go, ma'am. Whoever this guy is, he's just been listening in on everything we've been saying That's a bit too shady for my liking…" Cinder didn't say anything in response, instead merely looking at the reptilian faunus with a slightly curious glint in her eerie yellow eyes. However, if she did have something to say, then it was prevented when their faunus eavesdropper spoke up first.

 _ **「"**_ _ **Scary Monsters…"**_ _ **」**_ The Faunus uttered simply, confusing Roman.

"I'm sorry. 'Scary what?'"

" **GROWWLLL…"**

As if in response to this, the sound of growling all around them began to pipe up soon after he asked this question. Before any of them could react, several large, hunched over, and reptilian creatures completely surrounded them, drool leaking out of their snarling mouths and a black and white color scheme on each of them.

"What in the goddamn…" Roman muttered in shock, slowly beginning to back into the desk.

 ***RRRRRRAAAHH…***

However, he was stopped dead in his tracks when he heard the sound of growling only a hair's breath away, turning around quickly, the orange-haired thief was put at a loss for words when those two creepy lamps from before began to morph into a shape similar to the rest of the monsters surrounding them. When one of the monsters began to nash at his face, Roman instinctively backed away towards the center of the room once more.

"Are… are those…!" Emerald managed to say, hardly able to believe what she was looking at. For a brief moment, she thought that something went wrong with her semblance and she was causing herself to hallucinate.

"...The power to turn any living thing I please, including myself, into a dinosaur… that is the power my special ability, _ **「**_ _ **Scary Monsters,**_ _ **」**_ bestows upon me." The reptilian faunus drawled out before he looked towards the two velociraptors that once resembled lamps, an amused smirk creeping onto his face. "With an ability like this, I've been able to learn _plenty_ of interesting facts about my fellow dinosauria. I mean, hell, would you even believe that they're actually quite good at disguising themselves like that? The only limit to what I choose to make them look like is likely just my imagination. Dinosaur lamps have gotta be my favorite though." He rattled off, seemingly oblivious to the thick tension in the air.

"...It's just a shame that they don't light up, as you likely noticed. It would've made for quite the amusing sight." He added in as an afterthought.

"Don't bother with your weapons." The masked intruder said casually. Upon hearing this, a surprised grimace made it's way onto both Mercury and Emerald's faces, the latter of which slowly reaching for her revolvers as he was talking. "If any of you try anything at all, my dinosaurs will spring into action before you can get a single attack in. The senses and reaction times of dinosaurs easily trumps that of a human or faunus. Not only that, but they take a lot of punishment. You'd need to hurt them _pretty_ badly to take one of them down, whereas I only need a single, insignificant scratch to take any of you down."

"A single scratch? How the hell would that be enough to-" Roman's angry statement died in his throat when he noticed something that every single dinosaur in the warehouse had in common, and that was the fact that every single one of them had the mismatched skin color of _**grey and black**_. "...Wait a second, you're telling us that every single one of these things used to be-!"

"I see… all you need to do is just cut anybody with your claws and you can turn them into a dinosaur. Once they transform, they're completely subservient to you… interesting. I suppose they view you as some sort of 'alpha' in their pack, don't they?" Cinder suddenly drawled out, the curiosity in her eyes only growing with each passing second. Her posture was a complete contrast to that of her three subordinates, for she seemed merely curious about this sudden turn of events.

"Exactly right. I'm impressed though. One of you guys realizing how my ability worked, I expected. Someone realizing that I was an 'alpha,' not so much," The faunus complimented, pulling the uniform's hood off his head and casually flicking the mask off his face. This process, in turn, revealed his shoulder-length blonde hair, his cold cyan eyes, and sharp, handsome face. "Looks to me like you're more than just a pretty face, aren't you?"

"Alright, enough of the goddamn casual talk," Roman scowled, tightening the grip on his cane as he glared at the blonde. "Just what the hell are you trying to pull here, buddy?"

"Alright, I suppose it IS time to get to the heart of this matter. I came to Vale a few months back when I heard around the grapevine that something big was going on in the central city. I followed up on what I heard, and what else do I find but a terrorist group like the White Fang suddenly going around rounding up dust like there's no tomorrow? A fairly strange thing to hear about when they're commonly known for organized attacks on the human government. With all this in mind, and taking into account that you managed to get a group of violent, knuckle dragging morons like these," He explained, airily, gesturing towards his discarded mask as he spoke. "to take orders from you, and I can imagine that the end goal of this job of yours is something else. I mean, whatever you're planning here must have a pretty good payoff if a criminal like Roman Torchwick is in on it. So here's the deal. Whatever it is that you guys are trying to pull off, I want in on it. In exchange for offering my services to you, I'm gonna want a nice juicy slice of whatever you guys are working towards, whether it be money, dust, political power, or something else entirely." He offered, much to the surprise of Roman, Emerald, and Mercury.

"All in all, I'd say I'm offering you guys a pretty generous arrangement. I don't know if any of you have noticed through the little demonstration I've given you all, but I possess a very wide and versatile set of abilities. I can imagine a set of skills like mind would be pretty convenient to have at your disposal in the future, and all I want in return is a slice of whatever you guys are trying to get. Of course, if you're not interested, well… then I suppose I can always dispatch of you four and find _some_ way to make a profit off this warehouse full of dust you've got here." He remarked offhandedly, looking at the surrounding containers of dust with a slight glint in his eyes.

"Bullcrap! You're just one guy and this warehouse belongs to the White Fang! There's no way you'd be able to do anything with it before they realize something's up!" Mercury argued, calling the blonde's bluff.

"Yeah, I can imagine they'd be pretty disappointed when they check in on this place only to find it completely empty with all of the dust inside cleaned out."

"Oh yeah? And just how the hell would you be able to do that by yourself?"

"That's just the thing, though. I'm not alone." The blonde faunus rebutted simply, gesturing towards the dinosaurs surrounding them. "My dinosaurs are completely subservient to me and can take simple commands, like, for example, scouting out an area or even, dare I say it, moving a series of objects somewhere and hiding them. If I don't have enough right now, then I can always turn an entire sewers worth of rats into dinosaurs and get them to move the crystals and rounds individually. I'd probably be able to clean this warehouse out by morning, with my dinosaurs and myself being the only ones that would know the location of the dust."

"You can actually do something like that?" Mercury asked incredulously. Was there any kind of limit to the amount of people this guy could infect?

"I'm sure I could make it work. Especially with the powers I have at my disposal."

"You smug bastard…!" Emerald scowled, glaring at the intruder.

"Oh come on, don't give me that look…" The blonde faunus defended himself, a smirk beginning to grow on his face. None of them could tell if it was meant to come off as reassuring or just plain condescending. "The way I see it, this could benefit everyone here. I get a nice cut of whatever you guys are trying to get, and you all get a new ally with that has powers like this," As if to emphasize his point, he made a show of letting his gloved hand start to distort. When the brief transformation was finished, the brown glove he was wearing looked as though it was melded onto his skin and his fingertips were now replaced with a set of razor-sharp claws. "at his finger-tips. So whaddaya say? Do we got a deal?"

In response to hearing his offer, Roman couldn't help but spin his cane in his palm anxiously. "Well Cinder? What's it gonna be?" If he was going to be honest, he _could_ see just how useful this guy's abilities could be. Hell, if he was the one calling the shots, then he'd probably hire him without so much as a second thought. But he wasn't calling the shots. Cinder was. And depending on the choice she made just now, then they might very well end up in some hot water…

In response to hearing his offer, the golden-eyed woman didn't say a word, merely looking at the dinosaurs that surrounded them with a curious look on her face. Said dinosaurs looked as though they were on the verge of attacking, only being held back by their Alpha's command. Both Emerald and Mercury looked as though they too were on the verge of attacking when Cinder spoke up, and the unthinkable happened.

"Very well. I accept your offer."

" _What!?"_

"WHAT!?"

"Phew…"

"Perfect." The faunus smiled before snapping his fingers. In response to this, the feral edge that every single dinosaur in the room vanished from them, and they all took on a more docile stance.

"Cinder, we do not need this psycho's help! We were doing just fine before he came in out of nowhere!" Emerald exclaimed, shock and anger at the idea of having to work with condescending punk overtaking her.

"Actually, we do." Cinder rebutted, her golden eyes peering straight into Emerald's soul. "Because of the yours and Mercury's mistake, neither of you can participate in the next phase of the plan. With that in mind, our new… associate fits this role perfectly. It's actually quite convenient that we've met him in that respect."

Having effectively silenced her green-haired subordinate, Cinder turned towards the blonde faunus, a small smile on her face. "Follow my orders and do exactly as I say, and I assure you it will be worth your while."

"Fine by me, I'm just happy to see we understand each other." The blonde faunus smirked before tossing something towards Cinder, which she caught without batting an eye.

"Hope you don't mind, but I took the liberty of 'borrowing' that scroll from one of your manual labor guys. The number of my scroll is in there. When the next phase of your plan begins, just ring me up, tell me where I need to be, and what I need to do and it'll be as good as done."

"Now then…" With another snap of his fingers, every single dinosaur in the room suddenly collapsed to the floor. They remained still for a brief moment before they began to morph back into their former selves, revealing without a shadow of a doubt that every single dinosaur in this room had been the White Fang members that were unloading the stolen dust. Once the process was complete, the blonde simply turned heel and walked away from the four, heading towards the exit of the warehouse. "I have some places to be and I wanna enjoy a good night on the town before my job begins. Ring me up when you need me."

"Just one thing before you go..." Cinder began, her voice as monotone as ever. "What's your name?"

Upon hearing this, the faunus stopped for a moment, as though he was contemplating what to say, before he finally spoke up. "Just call me… _ **「**_ _ **Dio…"**_ _ **」**_

And with that, Dio disappeared into the darkness, leaving the four of them in an eerily quiet warehouse now filled with unconscious White Fang members.

 _ **-To be continued...**_

* * *

 **1\. Yeah. My mindset here is that anyone who's even vaguely familiar with RWBY already knows how this song-and-dance goes, so why go over what so many other fanfics have rehashed with little to no differences?**

 **URRRRGHHH...! FINALY DONE!**

 **Alright. Now that this is all finally out of the way, I'm gonna get some sleep, wake up a few hours later, enjoy my free PSN games with a guilt free conscience, and when I feel up to it, I'm gonna create a SpaceBattles account, spell-check every chapter of this story, and upload it there. G'night.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Alright, so here we are! Hopefully you all enjoy. As usual, I'm sorry for the wait, but a lot of unpleasant shit has happened to me lately and the free time I had in wake of it left me in no mood to write. Still, if it makes anyone feel any better, at least I came back with a 50 page chapter instead of some half-assed 3 page piece of crap.**

 **Disclaimer: HAHAHAHAHAno.**

 **Joseph Joestar: Hamon Hunter**

 **(A few hours before Joseph's return to the dorms.)**

" _So Weiss, what's all this supposed to be about?" Yang asked as she put her arms behind her head, vocalizing what everyone in Team RWBY's dorm room minus Blake was thinking. After the havoc they caused in the dining hall, Weiss took it upon herself to get the attention of both teams responsible for the mess. Once that was accomplished, the heiress requested that they all meet up in the all-female team's dorm room, claiming that she had something important that she needed to discuss with all of them._

 _While both Weiss's teammates and JNPR were confused at her serious tone combined with such a spontaneous request, they obliged nonetheless and proceeded to meet up in RWBY's dorm room, leading to the current situation at hand._

 _In response to Yang's inquiry, Weiss pulled out a large, hardcover book from her bed before taking a seat and looking down upon it, an apprehensive look on her face._

" _Well, to start off, the reason why I requested everyone meet like this is because it's a matter that more or less involves everybody here." Weiss explained calmly, unconsciously fiddling with the hardcover book she was holding onto._

" _Everybody here?" Jaune repeated, clearly confused and oblivious to what this matter had to do with him and his team, a sentiment that was unanimous among the rest of Team JNPR._

" _Weiss, what are you talking about? Did something happen?" Ruby asked, a concerned expression on her face. While Weiss could be moody a lot of the time, seeing her with this serious expression and grim tone just didn't feel right._

" _Alright… everybody just… take a look through a couple of that book's pages and you'll understand what I'm talking about." The heiress sighed, already bracing herself for the reactions she'd get as she handed the book to a confused Ruby. Just as she expected, when the several hunters in training began to look through the pages of the book that she marked, their faces slowly began to grow more shocked._

" _Weiss…" Ren was the first among them to regain his voice, his eyes still slightly wide. "Is the information on this book… accurate? If it is, then I'm not quite sure what to make of it..."_

" _I made sure to look up this book specifically before I started looking for it. According to various historians focused on Atlas's history, everything written in this book is completely accurate." Weiss confirmed, her eyes focused on the book with a serious look on her face._

" _W-Wait a minute, this doesn't make any sense!" Jaune interrupted, a look of shock and confusion clear to see on his face. "This book says that Joseph's family got wiped out on this ship accident over a hundred years ago! How is that supposed to explain anything!?" Why did Weiss hand them this book and act like it was supposed to clear everything up? Jaune didn't even have any questions or curiosities about their eccentric friend until Weiss brought this up. Now, all he had were questions with seemingly inane and impossible answers!_

" _This… this can't possibly be true… If it was, then there's no way that Joseph would be here right with us all right now…!" Pyrrha added in, clearly having a hard time believing what she was hearing before another possibility crossed her mind. "Do any of you think it's possible that Joestar might not really be Joseph's last name…?"_

 _Once this thought was vocalized, most of the room's occupants couldn't get it out of their head. Was Joseph lying to them the entire time? Did he really have some kind of connection to this wiped out bloodline or did he simply choose to take up their name for whatever reason? But if the latter was true, then why choose to settle on the Joestar family's name for a false identity in the first place?_

" _Considering how this family got wiped out over a hundred years ago, that does seem to be the most plausible answer. But… there's something about all this that leads me to believe otherwise. With that in mind," Weiss trailed off for a moment before she looked towards her teammates and friends alike with an inquisitive look in her eyes. "Why spend all this time speculating when we can get our answers from the subject of our questions?"_

" _If I may Weiss, if you're so sick of speculating and were aware that Joseph was hiding something sooner, then why didn't you confront him about this yourself?" Ren pointed out._

" _I simply wanted to wait until I had some concrete evidence that something was off. In addition to that, I only found out about all this just today. I simply wanted make all of you, who have associated with him just as much as Blake and I, aware of the situation at hand before I did anything." The white-haired heiress explained smoothly, taking the book back from her surprised team leader before closing it with a sense of finality._

" _So then, are we all in agreement that we should talk to our mutual friend about this little matter?"_

" _I don't know Weiss… this kinda feels like we're invading Joseph's privacy…" Came Yang's response, clearly conflicted about the information given to her._

" _Oh please, if there's anything that I've learned from you and your sister, it's that it's important to confront your friends on matters like these." Weiss stated confidently, although some didn't look entirely convinced on the matter. Upon noticing this, the white-haired girl let out an exasperated sigh before she continued. "Look, if this entire matter is nothing to be worried about, then that'll be the end of it, but after hearing what I've told you all, you can't honestly expect to turn the other cheek and act like this isn't an issue. We confront Joseph, ask that he explain himself, and that'll be it." Upon hearing this, most of their worries seemed to be somewhat alleviated._

" _...None of you think JoJo did anything bad before coming here, right?" Ruby asked, worry clear in her tone, and it was a sentiment that was carried throughout the group. As much as all of them trusted Joseph Joestar, considering they had all been friends for the past several months, there was no denying the underlying sense of worry they all felt in wake of this. Everything they had learnt just now suggested that the muscular brunette was hiding something big. But what exactly?_

" _No… no way. That's impossible. We've known Joseph for most of this school semester and I never got the impression that he was hiding something! There's no way he's some kind of criminal!" Yang denied furiously, unwilling to believe that one of her friends was not who they appeared to be._

" _Urrrgh... Seriously guys. Why are you all treating this like it's a big deal? Besides, it's pretty obvious to me just what's going on here." Nora stated confidently, getting everyone's attention._

" _You're saying you know what Joseph is trying to hide then?" Blake stated, eying the energetic girl skeptically. "Didn't I_ just _say that wasn't the case?" Yang stated, more than a little annoyed. Much to her annoyance, nobody seemed to pay her any mind as they continued to await Nora's explanation._

" _Wellll… it seems pretty obvious to me that our good pal JoJo is in fact AN ALIEN FROM ANOTHER WORLD!"_

 _._

 _._

 _._

" _Nora… there's a time and a place, and I don't believe here and now are either of those." Ren stated after a moment of awkward silence, now pinching the bridge of his nose with clear exasperation._

" _Alright, since nobody else is gonna say it, I will. Weiss, are you sure this sounds is a good idea?" Yang began to speak up, looking at her white-haired teammate with a look of clear skepticism. "Joseph might be pissed if he finds out you and Blake have been digging up info on him behind his back and that we've been talking about him like this. Stuff like that kinda rubs people the wrong way most of the time."_

" _Please. What does_ he _have to be mad about? He's the one that's been keeping secrets from the people he's fought alongside for several months. If anything, we at least deserve to know the truth of this matter." The Heiress state with closed eyes, crossed arms, and a confident smile, certain that before the night's end, she and everyone else involved would finally get answers from the anomaly associated with both their teams._

* * *

 **(Back at the present.)**

"Where in the _**fuck**_ do you get off!?"

Of course, reality tends to be much different when compared to one's expectations.

That furious statement was all Joseph Joestar could say once he listened to why both teams had gathered in this dorm room, a scowl on his face as he pointed accusingly at them. "What kind of backwater neighborhood were you all raised in if you think it's A-okay to go around talking about people behind their back and digging up personal shit on them when they aren't looking!? I should call the police on your asses for an invasion of privacy!"

"Woah! Where did THAT come from!?" Jaune exclaimed, taken aback by Joseph's anger. While the blonde rookie did indeed expect something along these lines when he pictured Joseph's reaction, the pure fury radiating from his friend still came as a shock. As someone who spent a good amount of time with Joseph, it was quite unnerving to see him so genuinely angry. Most of the time, he was usually either jovial to a hilarious degree or just plain hot-headed, but never furious.

"Where do ya think!?" Joseph shot back angrily before gesturing wildly towards Weiss and Blake. "From what I've heard, Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dumb here have been going around behind my back and digging up info on me and my family! Shit that I might've wanted to keep private! What, you thought I was just gonna listen to all the crap everyone's been spouting here, go 'Oh, alright then.' and start spilling my guts!? Hell no! If anything, I'm pissed that two of you fuckers invaded my privacy like this and that the rest of you are just going along with it like it's business as usual!"

"Did you really just call us 'Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dumb'?" Despite Joseph's valid reasons with being upset, Blake couldn't stop the deadpan comment that came out her mouth.

"Don't get off topic with me right now! I have every right to be pissed with you assholes! You all apparently go and start snooping around for info on me behind my back and suddenly, when you all confront me on it and start demanding answers, you expect me to go 'Oh okay, sure! That sounds reasonable.'!? No! That's not how this works! You don't get to go invading other people's privacy because of something as half-assed as a hunch!"

"Uh… to be fair on our parts, we only _just_ found out about this today!" However, when Weiss, Blake, and Joseph all immediately stopped their arguing to give the blonde knight their narrowed gazes, he could only squeak out a small "Just saying…"

"Don't try and make us look like the villains here! We had every right to be suspicious! Ever since we've all met you, everything you've done has come across as completely alien! How are we supposed to trust you when it becomes increasingly clear that you're hiding something from us!?" Weiss retorted once they got back on track, meeting Joseph's furious gaze with a defiant one of her own.

"Oh! Ho ho!" Joseph laughed mockingly. "So what!? Just cause I act a little weird by your hoity-toity standards means that you suddenly have the right to investigate me behind my back and expect me to spill all my alleged secrets?! Get off your fucking high horse, you condescending brat! I've got nothing to hide in the first place!"

"How dare you!? Where do you get the right to talk to me like that!?"

"I got that right the moment you started going behind my back to do shit like this!" Came Joseph's furious response.

"Well we wouldn't be so suspicious if it weren't for all the strange and weird things about you." Blake stated simply, only for Joseph to direct his glare towards her instead.

"Like what!? Tell me just what it is that's _soooo_ fucking strange by your standards! Seriously, go right ahead, I'm all ears!"

"Well, for starters, you have an ability that's completely unlike a semblance, you were physically unable to harness your aura when Yang tried to unlock it for you, you've shown that you're oblivious to multiple societal norms like Faunus, and your name doesn't follow the color naming rule."

"THE FUCK IS A COLOR NAMING RULE!?" Joseph screamed angrily, unable to hold back his frustration at this whole situation any longer. It was only after his his pulse slowed down and he was no longer seeing red that he realized what he said.

"You… don't know what Remnant's naming rule is?" Blake was the first to speak up, her words carefully picked as she eyed Joseph cautiously. The cautious gaze was shared among everyone in the room along with an undeniable sense of curiosity. The naming rule that had been employed ever since the end of the great war was common knowledge amongst practically everyone. It was hard to be in the dark about it when most of Remnant's population was named after colors because of it. That being said, the naming rule was by no means forced either, so while it was indeed strange that Joseph's name had no readily apparent reference to color, it could also be dismissed that his family simply wasn't willing to name him after a color or that their surname dated back before the war. Of course, the fact that their target of suspicion might not even be a member of this pre-war family didn't help his case. Joseph's reaction was just the final nail in the coffin, really.

"Ahhhh crap…" Joseph sighed, practically deflating as he fell down into a sitting position and sat back against the dorm's door, bringing both of his hands up to his face.

"JoJo, listen…" Ruby began, her tone apologetic as she kneeled down in front of the slumped down Joseph. "We're really sorry for making you uncomfortable like this, but we're just worried! I mean, I never really bothered to think about it, but Weiss and Blake are right. Everything they mentioned about you just doesn't add up at all, and I don't know about anybody else, but with how you're taking this, I'm really worried about you! We're not gonna force you to answer our questions if you don't want to… but maybe if you do, we could understand what's going on a bit more? Maybe even help you if you need it?" She offered tentatively, placing her hand on the brunette's broad shoulder as a sign of reassurance.

"Yeah… y'know what? That's right! We're not upset or anything, JoJo! We're just a little confused. So… maybe you can just clear all this up for us?" Yang said, her tone reassuring.

"Okay… okay, y'know what? Fine. If you all wanna know the truth that bad, then I guess I gotta tell you all then. " Joseph sighed, running both his hands down his face before he slowly stood back up, the expression on his face crossed with exhaustion and annoyance.

"So, I guess the first thing to make clear to all of you is that… I'm, technically speaking, an alien."

.

.

.

The moment these words left his mouth, a silence born of utter shock filled the room. Joseph gave no indication that he was trying to play a joke on any of them and the silence was so notable that you could hear the faint sounds of the other students in the dorm building through the walls. Both team RWBY and JNPR were just too shocked to respond.

"HA! Well would ya look at that! Not so far fetched NOW, is it~!?" Except for Nora, who only had that gleeful exclamation to make.

"I… I'm sorry Joseph, but you're telling us that you're an _alien?_ An extraterrestrial being from another planet?" Pyrrha reiterated, her tone baffled and honestly shocked that Nora might've been onto something.

"Oi oi, don't go getting the wrong idea here, Pyrrha. I didn't come here on some flying saucer and I'm not some little green man with big beady eyes and a laser gun. It's just the best word I can think up to describe me in this entire mess I've got caught up in." Joseph corrected impatiently, ignoring Ruby's disappointed whine when he mentioned he didn't have some form of laser gun. "I mean, do any of _you_ the proper word for a guy who's suddenly teleported to another world when they pass out? Because right now, alien is the best thing I can come up with."

"So… you're saying that you just woke up one day and ended up in Vale?" Ren finally spoke up, looking at Joseph with a thoughtful expression.

"Well, that's a really dumbed down retelling of things that doesn't even go into the crazy shit I was doing beforehand, but yeah. In very basic terms, that is what happened to me."

"I… I see… so what was this version of Remnant you're from like?" Pyrrha asked slowly, admittedly quite curious.

"Alright, first off, where I'm from, my world is called Earth, not Remnant, and secondly, I can say with that after living here for several months that they couldn't be any more different if they tried." The brash Joestar stated bluntly. "To start off, we don't have Grimm back on Earth, just angry animals and scumbaggy people, which means civilization is waaaay more widespread and populated. That also means we don't need a bunch of people with crazy weapons running around fighting monsters too."

"You're saying there aren't any hunters in your world!? Or really cool weapons!?" Ruby asked, both shocked and horrified. From what she could tell, this 'Earth' place Joseph was from sounded awful! Everyone else seemed to be quite surprised as well. From what they've been told, the brunette's world sounded quite different when compared to Remnant.

"Hey! We got plenty of cool weapons back on Earth! They just don't turn into other weapons like yours or anyone else's. Didn't you ever wonder why my clackers didn't turn into javelins, or something stupid like that?" Came Joseph's indignant response. "Hell, we even got cyborgs with machine gun pelvises and rocket fists! How's that for cool?"

"Uh… okay, that's pretty cool." Ruby admitted meekly, much to Joseph's satisfaction. "Damn right it is~. And try not to forget it."

"Okay, ignoring the fact that we don't know if any of this is even true, none of it changes the fact that it doesn't answer the big question." Weiss sighed, having more than enough of Joseph's snide attitude. Once she said this, she laid her narrowed eyes on the Joestar in question before pointing at him in a surprisingly flamboyant manner. "Joseph Joestar, if that is your real name, just how exactly did you end up in the city of Vale, and by extension, the world of Remnant in the first place!?"

...It was worth noting that during her surprisingly high-energy proclamation, Weiss also made a point of jumping onto the closest person's shoulders, in this case Blake's, when she did so. This was likely to increase the bombast of her statement. That being said, all this action DID accomplish was show Joseph, the rest of Team RWBY and JNPR that the refined heiress was not above performing strange, eccentric, actions like the rest of her team and friends.

 ***Whump!*** "Hey!"

It was also worth noting that an annoyed Blake immediately shook the heiress off her shoulders during the awkward moment of silence that ensued in wake of her words.

"Alright, that's a bit of a long story, but since I'm such a nice guy, I'll do what I can to give you guys the quick version. In any case, this _**「**_ _ **bizarre adventure**_ _ **」**_ that I got caught up in all began one night in this high-class restaurant in the city of New York, where I tricked this racist asswipe into puncturing his fists with a coat rack…"

* * *

 **(One retelling of Battle Tendency later…)**

"...Then, right before Kars was sent flying out the stratosphere, I heard him scream out 'DID YOU PLAN THIS TOO, JOJO!?" Joseph explained triumphantly, rubbing his chin slightly with a confident and cocky look on his face, gleefully ignoring the completely shocked stares of his audience, who had been listening to his story in an awed silence for the last hour. It was during this time that Joseph had recounted the… absurd series of events that led to his appearance on Remnant, and it was no exaggeration to say that both Team RWBY and Team JNPR were shocked into silence by what they were hearing.

"As you can imagine, I responded with a 'WHAT DO YOU THINK ASSHOLE!? YOU'VE BEEN PLAYING RIGHT INTO MY HAND THE WHOLE TIME!' I mean since you guys are my good friends, I'm willing to be honest with all of you and say that it was pure luck that saved my skin after I crashed the plane into the volcano, but you all gotta understand it was all to piss that vampire fruit loop off before he got sent flying to who-knows-where!" The Joestar continued to explain happily, even mimicking the same fist to the heavens he pulled off when he repeated what he said.

"And there you have it. A completely accurate retelling of everything I'd been doing before I got here. You all happy now?" To be fair, this really wasn't a lie, although Joseph did make a point of omitting how his first attempt to sneak into the Nazi base was a complete failure. In his retelling, the Joestar made sure to describe his initial infiltration attempt as 'completely ingenious and successful,' although he didn't go into detail aside from that brief description.

"That…" Weiss began, her eyes wide and her tone filled with awe and bewilderment. "...Was by-far one of the most absurd, insane, and completely _**「**_ _ **bizarre**_ _ **」**_ stories I've ever heard in my life. And you're telling us that all of this is true!? That you're some sort of… ' _visitor'_ from another dimension!?"

"Hey, you guys wanted me to be honest with you, and I did just that." Joseph shot back, his hands raised up in surrender. "C'mon, I poured my heart out to you guys, would it kill any of you to give your good buddy here the benefit of the doubt?"

"I'm not saying I don't believe you, but… you do realize just how insane everything you told us is, right?" Blake began slowly, raising her brow towards Joseph. In response, the muscular brunette could only scoff.

"Well, if none of you believe this, then too bad. Everything I told you guys was true, and if you won't believe that, well... tough shit." However, just when it looked like Weiss or Blake were going to argue, Ruby suddenly spoke up, her tone both enthusiastic and filled with conviction. "I believe you, JoJo!"

"No surprises there." Yang noted, a good-natured tone in her voice despite everything Joseph revealed to them. If there was one thing about her little sister that was a fact, it was that she'd always take a friend's side, no matter how unlikely or shady their whole situation was. Granted, this entire issue was an argument _between_ her friends, but still.

"Well thanks for that, Rubes. It's good to know I at least have _one_ true friend here." The trickster stated, none-too-subtly sneaking a jab in towards the rest of the people in the room as he thanked the silver-eyed girl.

"Look Joseph, it's not that we don't want to believe you, but did you even listen to what you just told us? It's not exactly the world's most believable story." Weiss sighed. She understood that they had been demanding much of Joseph this night, but could one really blame her, or anyone else, for their skepticism? Despite the confidence and conviction in Joseph's tone when he relayed his struggles against the Pillar Men to RWBY and JNPR, it was hard to really believe any of it when you took it all at face value. Afterall, much of the Joestar's adventure was bizarre at best, and completely and utterly insane at worst.

"C'mon guys, he's right! He said he'd be honest with us and I'm pretty sure that we can trust a guy that we've been friends with for half a year." Ruby assured the skeptical Weiss, completely confident in her words.

"Plus, everything he told us IS SO TOTALLY AWESOME!" Ruby suddenly exclaimed with a burst of enthusiasm, looking towards Joseph with a twinkle in her eyes. "Didja really mean it when you said one of the statue men you beat up had _chainsaw arm blades,_ didjadidjadidja~!?"

"Without a doubt. I swear on my left arm!" Joseph assured Ruby, mentally snickering at his own personal bit of black comedy.

"I… I don't know, guys. Everything he told us just sounds to surreal, I'm not sure if I can believe it." Unfortunately, Blake still didn't appear to be entirely convinced, and neither did Weiss. In fact, with a few exceptions, it appeared that most of team RWBY and JNPR were having a hard time stomaching what Joseph told them.

Joseph could only scoff when he heard the doubt in Blake's voice. "Oh, so this is the thanks I get for pouring my heart out to you guys? Nothing but suspicion and doubt? I'd certainly hate to see what kinda betrayal you skeptical jokers have gone through if you can't tell when a dear friend of yours is being genuine."

"I'm uh… not trying to take sides here or anything, but maybe if you proved it with something, it'd all be easier to believe?" Jaune suggested with a nervous chuckle.

"Right… Well, I DID wake up with the super Aja on me, but I can't exactly show off what happens when you overcharge this beauty with hamon without firing off a big beam of energy, and I don't really wanna attract any attention by firing this thing's beam out the window." Joseph explained, pulling the red stone out from under his tank-top and letting it dangle in front of his audience, it's mirror-like red shean occasionally glimmering as twirled about slowly.

"So _that's_ the Red Stone Of Aja. I was wondering where you got your hands on such a beautiful gemstone…" Weiss thought aloud, leaning closer to get a better look at the sleek, red gemstone Joseph had incorporated into a necklace.

"Hey! Hands off the merchandise! This thing is literally the only memento of home I got, and I don't anyone going off and touching it, got it!?" Joseph stated, snapped his hand away when he perceived the heiress as getting too interested in his necklace.

"I wasn't trying to steal it, you blow-hard, I just wanted to take a closer look!" Weiss huffed, crossing her arms. However, before things could escalate further, an unexpected voice spoke up and offered their own idea.

"Uh… actually guys..." Jaune began once more, raising his arm and getting the attention of everyone in the room.

"Alright, what is it now, Jauney boy? More pointlessly skeptical questions?" The brunette questioned, his tone flippant and his expression slightly annoyed.

"No… it's more like another way to clear any doubts about what you're saying, actually." He admitted, getting everyone's attention.

"Huh? Whaddaya mean?" Joseph asked, growing curious at Jaune's statement.

"Well… didn't you mention to me and Ren at one point that your stand could also read minds back during that whole 'camera' incident?" Upon hearing this, both Ren and Joseph immediately went rigid upon hearing a mention of the 'camera incident.' However, it was worth noting that if the subjects of said 'incident' weren't all standing in the same room as them, then Joseph would merely be looking back on the event with a fond smile on his face.

"'Incident?' What are you guys going on ab-"

"NOTHING!" Ren interrupted sharply, cutting Yang off before she could finish speaking. "We are 'going on' about absolutely nothing. Now, you were saying Jaune?"

"Oh! Uh, right… Well, what I'm trying to say here is that if your stand gives you some kind of ESP, then why don't you use it on something like a scroll or TV to show us what you experienced?" If Joseph's explanation to them was in any way accurate, then that meant that his stand, in addition to it's spirit photography, could also read people's minds. With that in mind, couldn't he just… read his own mind for them?

"That's!... a really good idea, now that I think of it. No reason to assume it wouldn't work…" Joseph admitted after a moment, rubbing his chin as he realized Jaune's suggestion could actually work. "Yeah, if any of you guys got a working TV around, I could use it to broadcast what I saw for all of you to see for yourselves. Anyone got anything in mind?"

"No worries, we got you covered there, JoJo." Yang assured him, taking out her scroll and pointing it towards the dorm room's window. As soon as she clicked a button on the device, a teal circular object, which had been resting on a shelf just beneath the window, suddenly gave way to a see-through screen that floated in front of the window. "This'll work just fine, right?"

"Yeah, this should work just fine." Joseph confirmed, walking in front of the teal screen. However, before he reached towards the screen, the brunette suddenly turned towards his observers, a dead-serious expression on his normally jovial face. "Look, before I work my magic on this thing, I wanna make something clear to all of you: _**I'm only going to show you my fight against Santana and the series of events that led to me defeating Kars. That's it.**_ I didn't go into too much detail while I was explaining, but a lot of nasty shit happened to me during this time that I don't wanna think about anymore, and there's no way in hell I'm gonna relive it on this goddamn screen so you chucklefucks see it firsthand. You're just getting the bare essentials here, got it?"

The tone in Joseph's voice, in addition to being dead-serious, also booked no room for arguments, something everyone in the room unanimously understood.

"Y...Yeah, relax Joseph. You don't have to show us anything you don't want to. Hell, you don't even have to show us this at all if you're that against it." Yang said in an attempt to placate the clearly agitated Joestar, with the others nodding in agreement. As curious as they were, they weren't going to force their friend to do anything he didn't want to do.

"Nah, too late now. Already got my stand out and everything. Might as well get this over with." Joseph sighed before he spread his arms forward, cracked his knuckles, and let _ **「**_ _ **Hermit Purple's**_ _ **」**_ thorny vines ensnare themselves around the see-through screen. As if on cue, the screen suddenly lit up and displayed nothing but static. "Alright! HERE WE GO!"

.

.

.

Any intrigue and tension that Joseph had built up within his audience was slowly whittled away when the moment passed and the static-filled screen hadn't changed at all. Not even having to turn around to know that everybody in the room was likely looking at him in confusion and irritation, the trickster let out a dissatisfied grunt before shifting his hands, and by extension, stand around. Perhaps if he changed it's positioning a bit, it would start working?

"Ah… question!" Ruby proclaimed after a moment, raising her hand as though she were in class. "Is the inside of your head supposed to look like static?"

"Ah… H...Hold on a minute. I got this."Joseph assured both teams hastily, tapping the screen with his knuckle. When the screen still didn't change after another moment, he let out an irritated growl before shaking the screen back and forth. "Rrrrgh! Son of a bitch! does this thing even have any working reception!?"

"Why would you need working reception to show us your memories?" Blake questioned, raising an eyebrow at such an odd question.

"I've never done this before! How should I know what is and isn't required!?" There was always the possibility that his stand's whole ability would require something incredibly inconvenient when it came to working it on a TV. Afterall, he DID have to smash an antique camera to make his spirit photography work, who's to say the TV had similar or completely different requirements?

"Perhaps you need to think about the events in question for them to show up on the screen?" Pyrrha suggested, eyeing the screen and _**「**_ _ **Hermit Purple's**_ _ **」**_ vines timidly.

"Maybe. I'll give that a shot." And with that said, Joseph began to close his eyes and began to concentrate, if the grimace on his face was any indication. "...No, it's still not working."

"No worries guys, I got this." Nora proclaimed confidently before anyone else could throw their two cents in. The orange-haired then proceeded to confidently strut up to Joseph, who was still trying to get the TV to display something other than static. Since he was so occupied by this task, the muscular brunette was completely blindsided when Nora proceeded to clear her voice and subsequently scream down his ear.

"ALRIGHT YOU COCKY STRIPPER S.O.B., I WANNA SEE YOUR MEMORIES ON THIS SCREEN, AND I WANNA SEE THEM RIGHT NOW! DO YOU GET ME!?" The hyperactive girl yelled, the authoritative tone in her incredibly loud voice reminding everyone present of a drill sergeant.

"WHY ARE YOU SCREAMING!? OH GOD, I THINK I'M DEAF NOW!" Joseph yelled back, clutching onto his ear and unable to notice how loud he was yelling.

"DID I SAY YOU COULD STOP!? HANDS AND VINES BACK ON SCREEN, BIG GUY!" Nora continued to scream, much to her victim's chagrin.

Whereas Team RWBY mostly just looked wide-eyed and shocked at this sudden change in Nora's behavior, the rest of the hammer wielder's teammates just grimaced at the sight, all clearly looking exasperated and even slightly shell-shocked.

"Is this... uh… is this normal for her?" Yang asked as the Valkyrie continued to scream at the flustered Joseph, her lavender eyes slightly wide.

"Unfortunately, yes. She has us go through a training regimen to keep us in shape." Ren sighed, bringing his palm up to his face.

"She does?" Ruby said, her eyes just as wide as her sisters'.

"Yeah she does! Why do you think I was in a body cast for the last week!?" Jaune exclaimed.

"Huh… say, maybe we should do something like that ourselves! Keep us at the top of our game!" Ruby proposed happily, only for her blood to run completely cold when Nora's yelling abruptly stopped and she felt and ungodly intense presence boring into the back of her skull.

 _ **ゴ**_

 _ **ゴ**_

 _ **ゴ**_

 _ **ゴ**_

"Oh? Did I hear that some young, perky, go-getters wanted to start their own fitness regime~?" Nora began, her tone sickly sweet and an honestly terrifying smile on her face as she snapped her head away from Joseph and towards RWBY and the rest of her teammates.

"NO! OF COURSE NOT NORA! Go back to screaming at Joseph please!" Pyrrha responded immediately, a forced cheery smile on her face. Nora's gaze remained on her tense teammates for another moment, the terrifying expression not even fading slightly from her face, before she slowly turned back towards Joseph and continued with her own brand of… encouragement.

"Don't even _**think**_ of saying stuff like 'training' and 'regimen' while Nora's in the same room as you! She'll just cut the knot and force you onto her own regimen, whether you like it or not…" The tone in Jaune's voice reminded the girls of a shell-shocked war veteran that just returned home after a year-long campaign. " Team LVDR made that very same mistake and as you can imagine, Nora 'recruited' them."

"Wait a minute, _she's_ the reason all four of them flunked out of Beacon at once!?" Weiss asked incredulously. To those who didn't know, Team LVDR was a freshman team that passed initiation alongside RWBY, JNPR, and Joseph. However, halfway through the first semester, they all mysteriously dropped out of Beacon at the same time, providing no explanation for wishing to leave one of the most prestigious schools in Remnant. The reasons for their dropping out was a bit of discussed topic amongst the freshmen, however, only Team JNPR, and now Team RWBY, knew the truth behind the matter.

"Please don't tell anyone…" Was the only response the all-girl team got from JNPR's leader, more-or-less confirming Weiss's question.

" Holy crap…" Yang murmured in shock, watching with wide eyes as Nora continued with her drill sergeant routine. It was certainly a good thing that fighting monsters provided the brawler with a good workout.

"C'MON, YOU CALL THAT THINKING!? MY GRANDMA CAN THINK BETTER THAN YOU, AND LAST TIME I CHECKED, SHE WAS GOING SENILE!" Nora continued to yell, the evil smile on her face making it clear she was getting a sadistic thrill out of this.

"Nora… we're orphans, remember?" Ren sighed, feeling a migraine coming on.

"That too! Now, are you gonna make this work and make us believe you, OR ARE WE GONNA HAVE TO LOCK YOU IN THE NUT BAR AND THROW AWAY THE KEY!?"

"OH MY GOD JUST SHUT THE HELL UP NORA!" Joseph screamed straight back, sending a furious glare towards Nora.

 ***BLINK! POP!***

"...What, did I say the secret word?"

However, as if in response to Joseph's frustrated outburst, the see-through screen suddenly let out a loud pop before the screen shifted. Instead of static, the screen now showed what seemed to be Joseph walking down a hallway that looked quite similar to the dorm hallways.

" _Alright, let's see here,"_ Came Joseph's voice from the television, who was currently looking at the clock on his scroll. This seemed to indicate that what was shown on screen was through his point of view, and the time and date on the scroll indicated that this event occured two days prior.

' _ **I got me some polaroids, I'm supposed to be back at the class buildings in the bathroom, and it is**_ **exactly** _ **1:15.'**_ For some reason, as the version of Joseph continued his internal monologue, practically everyone in the room could feel that a large, sleazy grin was creeping onto the Joestar's face. _"Perfect timing~."_

"Ah, I think I remember what we were doing that day! I'm pretty sure our final class for the day was combat training. Weren't you guys there too?" Ruby piped up, her eyes lighting up in realization as she looked at the members of Team JNPR expectantly. It was worth noting that while Pyrrha and Nora looked to be just as confused as the rest of Team RWBY, both Ren and Jaune had distinctly different reactions to what was going on screen.

"No… just Pyrrha and Nora, actually…" Ren stated calmly, staring at Joseph as his bangs shaded his eyes.

"Uh oh." Was all Jaune could say when he realized what was going on, covering his mouth as the Joseph on screen placed a polaroid on the ground before wrapping his stand around his right hand.

' _Oh no. Oh shit.'_ The polaroids he was holding at the time were already an ungodly implicator, but Ruby's blissfully oblivious words just now made his blood run cold in realization. He knew exactly what he was doing in this flashback, and he also knew that he didn't want a _single_ person in this room to know what he was going to do next.

"Say, what exactly are you trying to do with those camera's anyway?" Yang questioned with a raised eyebrow, although she abruptly got her answer when the Joseph on-screen let out a mighty battle cry before chopping down on the camera with his hamon-radiating stand, instantly crushing the ancient device. "...Okay, here's a better question: why did you just karate chop that camera with your stand?"

Once again, the busty blonde got her answer when a single picture slid out of the polaroid's slit. Wasting no time, the past version of Joseph quickly swiped the picture up before fanning it repeatedly.

' _Come ON! ARE THESE FUCKING VINES_ _ **TRYING**_ _TO GET ME KILLED!?'_ Joseph thought desperately as he tried to kill the connection. Unfortunately, despite his best efforts, _**「**_ _ **Hermit Purple's**_ _ **」**_ vines appeared to be stuck to the screen.

" _Hehe~! Alright, lessee what we got toda-"_

"WAH-TAAA!"

 ***CRASH!***

And before anyone could get a clear look at whatever the polaroid photo's contents were, their impromptu show was cut short when Joseph suddenly slammed his fist straight into the see-through screen, causing a brief explosion of sparks and electricity before the screen slowly tipped over and fell out the window.

 _*Crash!*_

...After a brief moment, the faint sound of crashing down below could be heard outside.

Team JNPR just looked shocked while Team RWBY's members held more of a stunned anger at the fact that Joseph _destroyed their television set._

.

.

.

"...That wasn't what we were looking for." The trickster stated simply. "Do any of you have an extra TV I could use?"

"...Aaaauuuugh! Why'd you break our TV!?" Was all Ruby could wail out in response. Joseph didn't bother to stay and hear the rest, quickly making his way out of the room before the rest of Team RWBY could voice their anger at his actions.

' _I REALLY need to get my mind out of the gutter during times like this!'_ **(1)**

* * *

Eventually, after much arguing and reluctance on their part, Team JNPR finally consented to Joseph using the screen in their own room to use **Hermit Purple's** ability. That being said, the brunette made a point of having both teams wait outside the room until he had a decent grasp on how to work this ability of his.

"...Is this some twisted form of karma?" Was all an irritated Weiss could say as she sat down criss-cross against the wall. She was honestly beginning to think that this entire endeavor was more trouble than it was worth.

"Now how are we gonna play videogames together!?" While the heiress was lost in her own brooding, Ruby was had since tackled her big sister into a mournful hug as they waited, tears comically running down her face.

"Don't worry sis, he's gonna buy us a new TV even if I have to beat the money out of him." Yang assured Ruby, her comforting tone contrasting completely with the intentions behind her words. They all continued to wait for another moment, each of them speculating what they would end up seeing to some degree, when Joseph suddenly opened the door to JNPR's dorm room.

"Alright, you guys can come in. I think I just about got a handle on how to do this."

"Please tell me you didn't break our TV too." Jaune sighed, more than a little concerned about the state of his team's dorm room.

"Water under the bridge, guys. Seriously, you people need to learn how to leave the past in the past!"

"That was less than 10 minutes ago." Blake noted, completely deadpan.

"Semantics! Now are we gonna do this or what?"

And so, both Team RWBY and JNPR were finally able to bear witness to Joseph's clash against a being with inhuman abilities such as Santana as well as his utterly insane fight against Kars, along with his ascension to the Ultimate Lifeform to his ignominious defeat via volcanic eruption. When the view of the stars on the screen faded away and it was clear to see that the visualisation of Joseph's memories were finished, the brunette turned towards his audience, only to see them looking at him open-mouthed and shocked into silence. Their repeated shock at the Joestar seemed to be a running thing that was going on today.

"Holy shit…" Yang muttered after a moment, her lavender eyes full of shock as she unconsciously gripped onto her right arm. "That was insane. You actually lost your arm and went flying into space! How is that even- HOW DO YOU EVEN HAVE BOTH YOUR ARMS RIGHT NOW!?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, Yang. I just woke up with it back on my arm like nothing ever happened. No scars or anything." Joseph explained, running a finger down the side of his forearm where there should've been a stump.

"And you pulled all of that off… through sheer luck!?" Jaune gawked, honestly amazed with the muscular brunette in front of him. Everything he heard and saw just now felt like something straight out of fiction! "That's… seriously amazing, man. You're like an honest to god superhero!"

"Hehe… you really think so? Gotta say, I like the sound of that~." Joseph chuckled, unable to deny that Jaune's awe-filled comment did wonders for his ego.

"So… does anyone else know about who you really are and how you got here? Someone important definitely has to, otherwise, there'd be no way that you'd manage to get to this school, let alone stay as long as you have…" Blake summarized, a thoughtful look in her bright-yellow eyes.

"Yeah, you hit the money on the head there. From what I know, only Ozpin and Miss. 'I seriously need to get laid' goodwitch have the full story… well, until very recently, I guess." Joseph trailed off, looking thoughtful for a brief moment.

"So the important and mysterious headmaster and his faithful assistant were the only ones that knew about this… well that feels pretty cliched." Nora added helpfully.

"Wait a moment, what did you mean by that last part? Does it have something to do with how you were called into his office." Weiss asked, recalling how Ozpin requested Joseph accompany him to his office.

"Pretty much. He brought me up there to meet this pal of his that has some ties to my family… well, around here, at least. The guy's gramps apparently was best pals with a member of my family from this world, so he's pretty eager to help me out with my whole… situation." Joseph explained, gesturing around him as he said this.

"Well, what's his name then?" Ruby asked, more than a little curious.

"Robert Speedwagon the 3rd. Maybe you guys have heard of him?" And judging by the surprised look on Pyrrha, Ren, and Blake's faces, as well as the utter shock on Weiss's, it was clear that at least some of them did. The rest of RWBY and JNPR just appeared to be slightly confused by the shock on their teammates' faces.

"Uh… alright, let's say some of us don't know who that is…" Jaune suggested upon seeing the shocked looks on his friends faces, feeling quite locked out of the loop.

"W-Wait…! You mean THE Robert Edward O. Speedwagon!? As in the head of the Speedwagon Metal Processing corporation!? YOU know him!? And he's HERE right now!?" Weiss sputtered out, hardly able to believe what she was hearing. What Joseph told them and subsequently showed them was one thing, but the fact that he was now somehow acquainted with the head of a company as big as her family business was something else entirely! Just what in the world was the head of the Speedwagon Metal Processing Corporation doing here in Beacon Academy anyway!?

"...Wait, so does his company process metals or make really fast wagons?" Ruby questioned slowly, clearly confused and having difficulty following this whole conversation.

"His company processes metals and distributes them across Remnant! Metals required for things such as building and weapon construction!" Weiss explained bluntly.

"So you mean to say is that you have the head of a billion lien company trying to help you get back to your own world?" Ren asked, making sure to confirm that he had the right idea of what's going on.

"Wow, that sounds like a lot of money. But yeah, I guess so." Joseph answered simply.

"Well that is certainly a fortunate turn of events on your part…"

"You're telling me! I'm finally beginning to feel like I've been making some progress in this whole mess!" Joseph boasted, a confident smile on his face. While he had been initially quite shocked at seeing a descendant of his surrogate uncle in person, the long-term effects of what the CEO had told him were finally beginning to sink in for the Joestar as he replayed his battles against the pillar men for RWBY and JNPR, and quite honestly, they made him feel pretty giddy. He knew somebody in this world that knew about this world's Joestar family and wanted to help him get home! If that wasn't a step in the right direction, then he didn't know what was.

"But anyway, what happens now?" Of course, now that the shock of his explanations wore down, Joseph realized that there were still matters that needed to be dealt with, like what was going to happen now

"What do you mean?" Blake questioned.

"Don't give me that confused crap when you're one of the guys who orchestrated this whole meet-up! I mean what now? You all know my story. You know how I ended up here and what the deal with my family name is. And I know at least _two_ of you were dead-set on figuring out what my deal was. Now you all got your answers, so what's gonna happen now that you all know?" Joseph's stance and words made it clear he was feeling rather apprehensive about this whole issue.

"What's gonna happen now? What's gonna happen now is..." Before anyone else could voice their thoughts on the situation, Ruby was the first to speak up, looking as though she was thinking quite hard on everything she'd been told this evening. "I think what's gonna happen is…. nothing!"

"Huh? That… that's it?" Joseph said, surprised by what he was hearing.

"Obviously! Just because you're from another world doesn't change anything! You're our friend JoJo! Something like this isn't gonna change that." As she said this, a warm, sincere smile could be seen on the silver-eyed girl's face.

"Yeah, that sounds about right. Live and let live seems like the perfect response to something like this." Yang added in, jumping into Ruby's bed and putting her hands behind her head.

"...This feels like a fairly anti-climactic response to what we just learned…" Weiss noted, but when Yang suddenly shot her a irritated look from the bunk bed, she let out a sigh and continued. "But then again, it's not as though you've done anything wrong, so I suppose it's also the appropriate response."

"Uh… wow. You guys are taking all this pretty well…" Joseph muttered. He honestly wasn't sure what to expect now that the truth was out, but a seemingly positive reception like this was not very high on his list.

"Hey, c'mon man. You were one of the first friends I got when I arrived here. Where you're from doesn't matter to me one way or another." Jaune assured Joseph, the sincere tone in his voice causing a surprising amount of appreciation to bubble up in the Joestar's chest.

"I couldn't have worded it better myself. While your origins are certainly surprising, JoJo, you've been nothing but a loyal friend since we've all met. To view you as anything else in wake of this would be awful on our parts." Upon hearing Pyrrha's kind words, the appreciation Joseph felt only continued to rise.

' _This… huh. This is a pretty nice surprise. I didn't know what to expect when I found out about this, but it certainly wasn't something like this.'_

"Hmm… Ah…" Joseph breathed out as he cracked his neck around, his expression both relieved and a fairly relaxed smile on his face. A stark contrast to how tense his was a few moments ago. "This is actually pretty nice, getting this whole goddamn issue off my chest. The only people who really knew about this whole thing was Ozpin, Goodwitch, and Speedwagon, and I've barely spoken to any of them. Spilling the whole story to you guys… it kinda helps me breathe easy."

"Well, that just goes to show how much being honest with your friends helps." Weiss stated, seemingly speaking from experience. Although considering what happened with Blake, it didn't come as a surprise.

' _Friends, huh?' 'Heh… man, hearing something like that really does give me the warm fuzzies!'_

"Alright then!" Joseph began happily, stretching his arms. "It's been one hell of a day, so I think I'm gonna go hit they hay!

"Hold it, hold it… you didn't think you'd get off _that_ easily, did you?" However, just before he could reach the door, Yang suddenly gripped onto his shoulder with vice-like strength, a matter-of-fact tone in her voice. "Okay, let's get down to business here. Hand over your wallet."

"WHAT!? Like hell I will!" Came Joseph's indignant response. "Where the hell did something like _that_ come from anyway"

"C'mon buddy. You didn't really think we were gonna let you off with a slap on the wrist for breaking our TV, did you? I don't know if Ozpin gives you spending money each month or what, but I hope you got enough lien to cover a 1000 lien entertainment center." Yang explained merrily, the broad grin on her face as she said this leaving an ungodly weight in Joseph's stomach.

"That… that'll take awhile to get, actually." Was all the Joestar could say in response. Ozpin had recently given him some funds for living supplies and such, but he _really_ didn't wanna lose them when he just got them.

"Well don't you worry about that! We're **very** patient people~!" Was the blonde's cheery response, causing Joseph to bite his lip in frustration.

' _Oh, son of a bitch. I really,_ _ **really,**_ _need to get my mind out of the gutter.'_

* * *

"And so, in one fell swoop, I cut off the Death Stalker's pincer a proceeded to use that vile creature's ghastly tool of death against it by-"

"Uhm, excuse me? Professor Port?" Pyrrha began tentatively, raising up her hand.

A day had passed since Joseph's appearance on Remnant had been explained to Team RWBY and JNPR, and currently, both teams and their muscular friend were currently in Professor Port's Grimm Studies class, one of the only classes they all had together. And as usual, the bombastic instructor was taking his sweet time telling his unenthusiastic students about his exploits in his prime before Phyrra interrupted him

"Oh, why yes, Ms. Nikos? Is there a problem?"

"I don't mean to interrupt you while you're in the middle of your… _riveting_ story-telling, but it's almost been half an hour. Don't you think we should actually focus on the class work?" The redhead asked, her smile and voice both clearly forced. Like most of the other students that attended Port's class, Pyrrha also found herself rather weary of their teacher's constant stories about his exploits during the 'glory days.' Idealistic and eager for knowledge, she initially found the tales to be quite interesting, but her interest was soon overshadowed by a newfound distaste for long-winded rants.

"It's nearly been half an hour?" Professor Port repeated, his bushy eyebrows raised and surprise clear in his voice. His answer came in the form of several groans and various exasperated students shouting yes. "Oh my! My apologies students! I just get so caught up in reciting the tales of my youth that I tend to lose track of time!" The portly hunter chuckled merrily, clearly oblivious to his students' collective exasperation and annoyance.

"Well then, since you all seem so eager to learn, let us begin!" Port said with enthusiastic bombast, clapping his hands together before walking towards several containers towards the left of the large classroom. In the spot where the Grimm were usually kept in containment for combat, there were four large containers the size of SUVs. Without the slightest ounce of hesitation, professor Port began to bang repeatedly on one of the cages, with the end-result being a series of loud, intimidating noises commonplace for the Grimm emanating from all of them.

"Students, as you can all see, I've managed to prepare quite the special treat for all of you for today's Grimm combat practice!" "Within these cages are four Beringels that we've managed to capture. If you've been paying attention in class, then you'll know that this particular species of Grimm is rather difficult to contain, thanks to their rather… 'volatile' temper, even for that of the Grimm."

"Now then, is there anyone here interested in going up against these ghastly behemoths?"

"Oh! Hey! I'll do it! Tag me in, coach!" Surprisingly enough, a volunteer came from Joseph of all people, who rose up from his seat and was looking at the caged Grimm with an opportunistic look on his face.

"Mr. Joestar? Well this is a pleasant surprise! It's not often that I don't have to manually pick you for Grimm combat." The portly professor laughed. "However, if I may be so bold, what brought on this sudden change in attitude?"

"No real reason. Just lookin' to show off and make sure my joints don't rust up." Joseph stated nonchalantly. "Well, I better go get the stuff out of my locker and change out of this stuffy frickin' uniform, so if you don't mind."

* * *

"Wow. He actually volunteered for combat training. Never thought I'd see the day." Yang noted, her expression as amused as ever as Joseph confidently strutted back into the room, now donning a pair of cargo pants and a form-fitting tank top, both a matching shade of dark green and topped off by an exotic silk scarf that looked to be imported from Mistral and set of goggles resting on his forehead.

"So… what kinda tricks do you think he's gonna pull here? My money's on the tommy gun." Yang asked her teammates.

"I'd be inclined to think that as well, but at this point, I think we all know that he isn't the type of person to reuse old tricks if he can help it." Weiss brought up, resting her chin on her hand as she looked towards the center of the room.

"Yeaaah, you got me there. What about you Blake? Think he's hiding something special in those non-existent sleeves of his?... Blake?"

When she received no answer, Yang looked to her right to see if everything was alright on Blake's end. However, when she was greeted with the sight of her normally aloof partner gazing into space with a blank look on her face, she was left more than a little concerned. This daze Blake was in, along with the slight bags under her eyes, implied that the black-haired faunus hadn't gotten much sleep last night.

"Blake? Hey Blake! You still alive over here?" Yang said, raising her voice slightly and even grabbing onto her scalp and shaking it slightly in an attempt to get her attention. The head shaking seemed to have done the trick, judging by the way Blake suddenly started blinking, a look of surprise now on her face.

"Oh! Uh… sorry, you were saying something?" The cat faunus began offhandedly, but not before smacking off Yang's hand.

"Uh… nothing, forget it." Was all Yang could say in response. It looked like she hadn't even been aware of anything that had been going on in class until the blonde got her attention.

"Gooooooo JOJO! Represent your… kinda sorta temporary team!" Ruby rattled off enthusiastically, waving a dark purple foam finger that had _**'JOJO'**_ scrawled across it in bright white. One could only assume that she acquired this same piece of merchandise from the place Blake received her Team RWBY banners.

"Now then, are you ready to begin, Mr. Joestar?" The portly hunter asked when the muscular Joestar stood parallel to the cages.

"Of course I am! I'll have you know that 'Ready' is actually my middle name!" Joseph stated confidently, cracking his knuckles as he stared down the shaking and growling set of containers in front of him. Upon hearing this, Professor Port let out a few deep chuckles before gripping on the containers' ropes tightly.

"Very well then, you may now… BEGIN!" And with one hefty tug on all the ropes, the containers' doors all simultaneously slid open, granting the beasts inside freedom to attack. Within the next instant, four vicious ape-like Grimm came charging out their containers and straight towards Joseph. However, the cocky smile that was still plastered all over the cocky brunette's face made it clear that he was in no way worried about the charging Grimm. The reason for this cocky disposition was revealed when one of the Beringels leaped into the air and slammed both of their fists down towards Joseph, allowing him to reveal his trump card.

"Flash bang."

Taking all this in stride, Joseph merely reached into his cargo pant's pockets before tossing a dark-blue, cylindrical object into the gorilla Grimm's fist before covering his eyes. If one had been paying attention, then they would be able to see that Joseph snapped his eyes shut the moment he held up the object, cocky smirk still clear to see on his face.

 ***BANG!***

" **GWOOOOOR!"**

"AH! I'M BLIND!"

"TOO MUCH WHITE! TOO MUCH WHITE!"

"OH GOD WEISS, I SEE A BRIGHT LIGHT! SHOULD I WALK TOWARDS IT!?"

"THAT'S JUST BECAUSE YOU WATCHED A FLASH GRENADE EXPLODE! AND NO! DON'T WALK TOWARDS IT YOU IDIOT!"

While the entirety of the Grimm combat class was up in arms about the sudden flash-bang explosion, Joseph took this moment of confusion to spring into action. With hamon crackling through his right fist, he jumped upwards and socked the closest Beringel in the face. Impressively enough, Joseph's overall physical strength combined with the fruits of his grueling hamon training proved to be more than enough to send the gigantic, ape-like Grimm slamming into the ground.

"We got a one~"

"And a two,"

Unlike the other two Berginels, Joseph made a point of agitating the furious monster by balancing himself on it's head, making sure to slam his foot, overcharged with hamon, down onto it's face when it started to move around too much. All according to plan.

" **ROOOOOAAAR!"**

"And a we know what to do~!" And with that flamboyant remark, Joseph crouched down before leaping off off the Beringel's head, painful sparks of hamon crackling where his feet were just located, just as the fourth one charged towards it, football tackling it's fellow Grimm to the ground.

"Alright… heave…" It appeared that Joseph still wasn't finished, however, for the moment he touched back down on the ground, he proceeded to take a deep breath before raising his right hand up in front of himself

"HOOOOO!" Once his breathing was steady, Joseph grabbed onto _**「**_ _ **Hermit Purple's**_ _ **」**_ vines with his other hand and yanked back on the purple stand as hard as he could. In response to this action, _**「**_ _ **Hermit Purple,**_ _ **」**_ which Joseph seemed to have attached to the Beringels when he landed blows on each of them, zipped back towards it's host and took the four Grimm it was attached to with it. This, in turn, caused the already dazed Grimm to slam into each other with a staggering amount of force, leaving them all incapacitated in a big pile on the ground.

"Okay then…!" Joseph breathed out happily, running a hand through his hair as he admired his handiwork. Once the pile of furious Grimm began to stir once more, however, he proceeded to raise his left hand up, smirk ever present on his face.

"Aaaaaand…" As he tugged the pinky finger on his left hand back, one could make out the faint gleam of a thin string tied onto his pinky.

 _*Click!*_

The moment that loud click resonated throughout the room, everyone present, excluding Joseph, were shocked to see several grenades bounce up atop the pile of Beringels, all of their pins pulled.

"That should be enough~."

 ***BWOOOOM!***

The fiery explosion that ensued immediately after Joseph said that was so intense that he was forced to shield his eyes from the bright flames. The moment the heat died down and he uncovered them, however, he was pleased to see that all that remained of the four Beringels was some charred fur and bones all in a smoking pile the size of a small table.

"WOO! I BLEW THEM TO DUST! HAPPY! JOYPY~!" Joseph cheered gleefully before closing his eyes and awaiting an applause from the observing students, a confident smile on his face.

.

.

.

When all he got was instead a moment of shocked silence, he began to grow a little irritated.

"What? I don't even get an applause for wasting my grenades for that trick?" Joseph huffed, looking at the shocked students with disdain. "Sheesh. Last time I waste my time trying to look good in front of you deadbeats, that's for sure."

"Well Mr. Joestar, if it's any form of consolation, that was truly an excellent display of both skill and quick thinking! Clever use of both your semblance, weaponry at hand, and the environment around you is certainly a skill many superb hunters display and use to their advantage." Professor Port interjected, looking over the smoking and dissolving pile of gorrilla-like Grimm with a broad smile behind his large bushy mustache.

"See? Praise like this is what I'm expecting, not a shocked silence! C'mon people, is a little clapping too much to ask for here?" Joseph continued to complain to the class. Giving Port a slap on the back as thanks for his praise, which, like many other occasions, caused the veteran hunter to stagger slightly. An impressive feat when one takes Port's… portly physique into account.

Another moment passed in the classroom before one of the students began to tentatively clap their hands in applause. And in another moment, the entire classroom was filled with the sound of a weak, disjointed applause.

"He really doesn't know when to stop running his mouth, does he?" Blake stated bluntly, all of the loud grenade explosions having roused her from her previous daze.

"Hey, credit where credit is due, that was pretty awesome to watch." Yang remarked from her seat, clapping slightly with with the rest of her team, an impressed smile on her face.

"There! Now that's better. Thank you! Thank you! You're all too kind!" The muscular brunette boasted happily, going as far as to bow before his tentatively clapping audience, seemingly oblivious to just how the previous series of events they just witnessed completely weirded them out.

"Like I said. He doesn't know when to stop running his mouth, does he?" Was all Blake had to say in response, leaning back into her seat when she noticed the Joestar was having way too much fun with his showboating.

"Well students, I'm afraid the we only have enough time for a single bout of combat training. Despite though, I hope that all of you have gathered much valuable information from today." Port began as Joseph continued to show off to his adoring(?) crowd. "With that in mind, enjoy the rest of your day and as usual, _stay vigilant!_ Dismissed."

* * *

"Now gonna lie, that was a pretty good show back there big guy." Yang began when Joseph approached her, the two of them now walking out of the large classroom and into Beacon's large hallways.

" Really now? Was it good enough that you would've paid a thousand bucks to go see it? " the brunette suggested jokingly, although it was worth noting that there was a slightly hopeful tone to his voice.

"Ah ah ah! I don't wanna hear any of that!" Yang shushed, raising her hand in front of Joseph and a stern, matter-of-fact, tone in her voice. " You're still 400 lien short and I'm gonna be expecting that 400 the next time some money comes your way. TVs aren't cheap y'know."

"You fucking vulture." Joseph groaned in annoyance, only to get some muted giggles from Yang in response.

"Seriously though, I really do have to wonder where you get the time to set up these traps in the thick of things."

"Hey, don't forget you're talking to a Joestar here, Yang-bang. I come from a family that can plan shit out and execute those plans in the blink of an eye! Tying some grenades onto a coupla' stupid gorillas is something I could've done with my eyes closed!" Joseph boasted pridefully.

"Really? You don't say? Well, after everything I've seen you pull, I guess that really shouldn't come as a surprise." Yang laughed.

"Man, let me tell ya, though. I never expected this would be how my life turned out." As they continued on their way, however, a slightly contemplative look overcame Joseph's face, indicating something rather important was on his mind.

"Yeah, I can imagine you think about that a lot, considering all the crazy crap you've gone through. Can't say it didn't work out for the best though." She offered, the easygoing expression returning to her face. "Seems to me like ending up here was a nice stroke of good luck on your part, huh?"

However, judging by the way he shook his head in dismissal, it appeared that Joseph did not share Yang's sentiments on the matter. "Nah, it would've been a real stroke of good luck if that slab of rock I was on slowly and leisurely dropped me back on Earth, preferably in front of a first-class hotel. If we're gonna be honest here, I don't exactly see the appeal of constantly fighting and putting my life on the line like you do. Or anybody else in this school for that matter."

"You're kidding me. You get to spend your days seeing the world, fighting monsters, and enjoying constant thrills! All the while getting a sweet paycheck! What's there not to like?" Yang asked, slightly baffled at what she was hearing. All this time, she honestly had Joseph pegged for a thrill-seeker like herself. It made sense when one considered how similarly hot-blooded and boisterous the two were. Had she been wrong about her assumption the entire time?

"Naw, don't get me wrong there, Yang. This world is frickin' insane and I'm not gonna deny I love soaking everything it has to offer in, but even I got my limits, and there's no way in hell that I'm gonna spend my entire life stuck here." While each member of the Joestar family had a natural curiosity towards anything unique or bizarre, a line had to be drawn somewhere, and personally, Joseph had drawn his at the idea of spending most of his life being a hunter. Maybe it was just a subdued form of culture shock, but idea of just living here and making a career out of being a hunter just didn't sit right with the muscular brunette.

Plus, it's been so long since he last saw Granny Erina. It had been close to a year since he left New York to find Speedwagon in Mexico and to be frank, Joseph really missed her. The first thing he was gonna do when he got home was give her the tightest hug he could muster! Same applies for his own version of Speedwagon!

"The way I see it, I'm more of a tourist here than anything else, and first chance I get, I'm gonna be outta here and heading straight home." Upon hearing this, and noticing just how sure of himself he was when he said it, Yang's easy-going expression slowly faded into a frown.

"Y'know, you keep talking about how you wanna get home ASAP, but have you ever really considered your other options? I mean… all things considered… well..." Yang trailed off, her tone uncertain as she brought her long trail of golden blonde hair to her shoulder and began to absent-mindedly stroke it.

"What? Spit it out, will ya? I can't understand you if you don't speak clearly." Joseph said, beginning to grow antsy thanks to the way Yang seemed to hesitate.

"Alright, look. You clearly don't want to face reality, so I'll just spell it out for you," Yang sighed, the look on her face growing exasperated. "Maybe you should just stop worrying about finding a way home and focus on what you got here. I mean, how do you think you'll be able to get back home as soon as you want to when you don't even know HOW you got here in the first place? Honestly, you should just do yourself a favor and forget about it, enjoy what you got here for the time being."

Yang wouldn't deny that she was being blunt here, but in her opinion, it was for Joseph's own good. Normally, she wouldn't try and shoot down someone's dream like this, but from what she could tell, Joseph really have no way of accomplishing this. Hell, he didn't even know _how_ he ended up on Remnant.

In response to what she said, Joseph's eyes widened for a brief moment before an unreadable expression overtook his face, something that Yang wasn't sure what to make of. Did she take things a step too far…? No. Maybe she was being a bit harsh when she said this, but through and through, Joseph was a pretty reasonable guy, surely, he'd understand that she was trying to help hi-

"Are you trying to screw with me here, Yang?"

"Wha-? No, why are you-"

"Then why are you saying crap that's only gonna piss me off!?" Joseph demanded, his eyes narrowed at Yang and his expression conveying nothing but anger. "You're seriously telling me to just _stop!?_ What kind of advice is that!? I'm not gonna stop until I find out what the hell brought me here and how to get back!"

"And that's just the thing. _You don't even know how you got here, Joseph_. How do you expect to get back to Earth when you don't even know where to start looking. Remnant isn't a library, _it's an entire planet,_ probably just as big as your own. You can't just expect to find the answer to all your problems in Beacon's library, or something stupid like that!"

"N-No way! I do have somewhere to start looking, I Just-! Just…!" Joseph trailed off, racking through his brain for a justifiable retort. While he did meet the Speedwagon of this world, he was just as in the dark as Joseph. Not only that, but the best theory that the two of them had come up with, that Joseph's reason for being here was connected to the Joestar bloodline of Remnant, it was still just that, _a theory_. There was no way of even knowing if investigating anything left behind by Remnant's Joestar line would even help or if it would just be like trying to catch a cloud.

"Joseph, believe me when I say that I get where you're coming from here. You have a goal in mind, and it's so important to you that you can't focus on anything other than achieving that goal, no matter who or what's in your way. But it's not good to be so single-minded like this." Yang explained, her eyes narrowed and a stern expression on her face. "Do you really think that just rushing headlong towards this goal without considering your other options is a good idea?"

"Well it's a better frickin' option than just sitting around here with a thumb up my ass, something that you seem to be all for me doing!"

"I'm saying this because you're getting your hopes up for a goal that you have no clear way of accomplishing, now will you lay off? You're getting really loud." Yang stated calmly, although the narrowing of her eyes as she said this made it clear she was starting to lose her patience.

"I'll speak however I damn well please, because I don't recall ever taking orders from an airhead blonde like you!"

" _ **What**_ _did you just call me?"_ Yang demanded, fury creeping into her voice and her lavender eyes slowly beginning to change color.

"You heard me loud and clear you goddamn airhead! You might think that what I'm trying to do here is a frickin' pipe dream, but it's too important for me to just up and forget about it like you're saying I should! This isn't something I can just give up and forget about like your saying I should! It's too important to me! Now are you done spewing shit out your mouth, or did you actually have something worthwhile to tell me!?" There was nothing but anger in Joseph's face. It was clear as day that Yang's words did a good job at setting him off. Of course, what the hot-headed blonde had to say next made it clear that their anger was matched.

" **RRRRAGH!"** Any patience Yang had left had long since dribbled away and was replaced with anger, the dark red shade her eyes took and the way her golden hair flared up like fire a testament to this. **"Okay, forget it! If you wanna get pissed off and scream at me when I'm only trying to make you feel better, then be my guest! SEE IF I CARE! GO ON AND HAVE FUN TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH YOUR PIPE-DREAM, YOU EGOTISTIC JACKASS! "**

"ALRIGHT, FINE! Sounds like a better pastime than putting up with the crap you keep spouting to my face!" Joseph yelled angrily as the furious blonde stomped away, making sure to flip her the bird for good measure.

'" _Maybe I should call this place home now!?" What kind of an ungodly idea is that!? Like I'm just supposed to forget about everything and everyone I grew up with and suddenly call this place my home! No way in hell! I'm getting back home if it's the last thing I do! And when I do, I'll show Yang her 'pipe-dream' and tell her_ exactly _where to shove it!'_

However, despite their furious exclamations towards one another, both participants in this argument began to feel what could only be described as an irksome heavy weight in both their stomachs. A weight that could only be described as a stagnant mixture of both fury and hurt.

Such is the consequence of having two people with such short fuses and firm stubbornness interact on such a frequent basis. **(2)**

* * *

 **(The Next Day.)**

' _I… really don't feel like talking to anyone today…'_ Was the only thought that marched through Joseph's head as he laid in his bed, staring up at the ceiling. It was currently morning in the Beacon dorms and the many students within it were currently starting to get ready for the day. Joseph himself had just woken up, but he admittedly felt quite apprehensive at the thought of interacting with Teams RWBY or JNPR today, for obvious reasons.

Team RWBY was fairly obvious: hang out with any member of that team, and there was good chance that he'd also run into Yang, who was likely still pissed from yesterday's argument. The Joestar hadn't seen the blonde since yesterday, but he had known her long enough to know that she was probably the type to hold grudges on these types of matters

Not wanting to see Team JNPR was pretty much the same case, albeit more subdued. It was pretty common knowledge that both Team RWBY and JNPR were two of Beacon's more well-known teams, partly because of the famous figures on both teams, and partly because their members all hung-out fairly frequently. With that in mind… Joseph would likely run into Yang if he decided to spend some time with JNPR.

' _There's no way in hell I'm gonna deal with any of her crap today. Way too much of a hassle, especially for a fucking weekend.'_ He wasn't going to start avoiding both teams because Yang was being a goddamn moron, but currently, he really didn't want to deal with her when the events from yesterday were still fresh on both their minds. And honestly, Joseph needed a little 'Joseph Joestar time' anyway. He just needed to get away from this goddamn academy and get some time to himself when he could be bothered to get out of bed.

...In fact, now that Joseph thought about it, it HAD been a while since he last visited Vale's shopping district, and that young, scarless Speedwagon DID mention that card he gave him could be used to dial up some support from his company. Maybe he could dial those guys up and request a little money be placed into his scroll's credit card?

' _Yeah… yeah! If I word it right, then it shouldn't be any problem! And besides, it's not like I'm tryin' to spend a fortune here! I'm just trying to get a little spending money is all. Lord knows I need it after what happened the other day.'_

Why not splurge a little bit? He had more than earned the right, or at least that's what he thought.

With his mind made up, Joseph began to head into his bathroom and dial the card's number into his scroll, deciding today was a good day to enjoy some of Vale's foods and sights.

* * *

' _Pretty nice day out, today…'_ Joseph thought absent-mindedly as he slowly walked down a lively Vale street, taking in the colorful appearances of the people around him out of the corner of his eye. If Joseph recalled correctly, that big Vytal festival he remembered Ruby and Weiss going on and on about was finally going to be coming to a head soon, and as such, various people from all around Remnant had gathered in Vale for it, and it showed. All around the brunette, there were various people with all sorts of variables in their appearance, from hair-color, animal-like extremities, and of course, convoluted and complex weapons that more often than not had a secondary form to utilize.

' _The designs of some of these damn weapons still baffles me. How in the hell do these people keep coming up with original designs!?'_ Came a voice in the back of Joseph's head as he noticed some girl and her friends pass by, a weapon that looked to be some kind of a cross between a machine gun and a mace strapped to her back. _'Whatever happened to using your fists? Or a good old' fashioned baseball bat?'_

These pointless thoughts stuck in the Joestar's head for a moment before he remembered that he was on an alien world with a vastly different culture than his home world's, and simply decided to forget about it.

"I know what's making me think like this… I'm probably hungry! Finding a restaurant that serves some exotic cuisine sounds like the perfect thing to get my mind off things!"The brunette thought aloud with a broad smile, realizing that with all the snacks he's eaten and getting all his meals from the dining hall, which never really offered anything truly unique, he'd never had the chance to enjoy a fresh meal straight out of Remnant's restaurants. Something you couldn't just buy in a cafeteria or vending stand.

"Mm… I could really go for something sweet like parfait... but then again, nothing really beats a steak meal straight off the grill! Or maybe I can go get some-"

 ***BAM!***

Joseph didn't have the time to finish his monologue before he felt something hard and heavy slam into him.

"HEY! Watch where you're going, pal! Can't you see-!" Joseph already began to rattle off, his lack of manners already showing, until he got a good look at the person he bumped into.

"Oh dear! I'm sorry, JoJo! You're right, I really should pay more attention to where I'm going."

And that person was none other than Penny Polendina, who was currently looking at her shocked friend with her usual affable smile.

"P...PENNY!? Is that you!?" Joseph exclaimed, grabbing the eccentric orange-haired girl by her shoulders and giving her a good look over, unsure if his eyes were fooling him or not

"Sal-U-Tations, JoJo! Is there something wrong?" Lo and behold, his eyes were right. The strange girl hadn't changed at all since the night she disappeared at the docks. She was even dressed up in the outfit Rohan set her up with back when they first met, checkered top hat included.

"OH NO, don't you 'Sal-U-Tations!' me, you goddamn ghost! Where the hell have you been!? You've been gone for weeks now!" Joseph demanded, releasing Penny as he narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

In response to this shocked question, Penny's default friendly expression quickly faded into a surprised and rather apprehensive one. It was clear by the way she now wouldn't look Joseph in the eye that she had something she was hiding.

"Where have I been…? O-Oh, well… I've been… aro- **HIC!** Around…" Penny managed to say, although the way she stumbled around with her words and how she answered his question with a vague response made it clear that there was something she didn't want to tell Joseph. This was made even more clear when she suddenly turned heel and began to sprint-walk away from the brunette, her posture rigid.

"Hey! Hey! Do you really think I'm gonna accept a half-baked excuse like that!? If it was just a week, then maybe that'd work, but a week isn't the same as the last few months you've dropped off the Ea-planet." Joseph rebutted with narrowed eyes, grabbing the hiccuping girl by her shoulders before she could go any further. "Come on, talk to me here buddy! Last time I heard from you was at the docks, and from what I heard from Blake and Ruby, you were the one who cleaned house with those White Fang punks!"

"I… **HIC!** I apologize, JoJo, but I think Ruby and her friends might've been mi- **HIC!** Mistaken…"

' _Does she always hiccup when she tells crappy lies?'_ Joseph thought dryly before he realized he might have some better luck with this entire matter if he managed to calm Penny down a little first.

"Okay, okay, easy. Just take a deep breath and relax, will ya?" He offered, removing his hand and taking a step back from Penny to give her some breathing room. She seemed to appreciate the gesture and managed to calm down, judging by the several deep breaths she took. When she stopped, she looked at her muscular friend passively, no emotion to be seen in her eyes.

"Listen, sorry for being so intense about all that, but I'm just worried about you here. From what I heard from Ruby, the night everything went to hell at the docks, you were there flying around with jets and using some strings to control these sword and all sorts of crazy stuff! Stuff that sounds pretty outlandish even for a place like this," Upon seeing that Penny still looked a bit antsy, Joseph gently put his palm on her scalp in a calming manner and gently brought her head upward, allowing her to take a good look at the genuinely friendly and reassuring expression on his face. "Come on, what do you have to be worried about here, Penny? You're just talking to your good pal, Joseph Joestar! Hell, as long as you're fine, then we don't even have to talk about what happened. Just do me a favor and let me know before you decide to disappear like that, alright? I friggin' hate it when friends leave without even a goodbye!"

The brunette's words seemed to have had an effect, judging by they seemed to calm Penny down. She still had anxiety written all over her, but she seemed considerably less eager to leave as quickly as possible.

"I said it once, and I'll say it again. We don't have to talk if you don't wanna, so just relax, will ya? I'm starting to feel all tense just looking at you." Joseph groaned, put off by Penny's unusually tense behavior. Just what happened to her the night she disappeared, anyway?

After another moment of hesitation, she took a very pointed look around the street they were on, scanning the area for watchful eyes. When she was finished, she leaned towards Joseph and began to whisper conspiratorially. "It isn't safe to talk here. We need to get out of the open if we're going to talk."

"Now we're talking!" Joseph cheered, more than pleased with his successful persuasion techniques. "C'mon! I was looking for a place to eat before I ran into you. I'll buy you something, my treat."

* * *

' _Well… this is making me feel a bit scummy…_ ' Joseph noted from the back of his head as he took another bite out of his freshly grilled cheeseburger, countering any appalled and disgusted looks he got with a challenging gaze of his own. That was enough to make any wise-ass jokers back off.

After agreeing to share what was going on after they got off the street, Joseph opted to take penny to a nearby pub that served food, deciding he may as well get his answers from the strange girl while enjoying something grilled and delicious. Upon getting there and getting situated, the trickster ordered himself a tall cup of iced tea to go with a medium-rare cheeseburger and fries, while Penny asked for… nothing, claiming that she already ate and wasn't hungry.

Of course, ordering a nice and fat meal with a side of fries and a refreshment never looked good when the person sitting across from you was a petite young girl who merely sat with her hands on her lap, an anxious expression on her face. She was anxious for different reasons entirely and she made it clear that she didn't want anything, but that didn't stop any passers by from getting the wrong idea.

"So… I'm not gonna start complaining that I don't have to pay extra, but… you sure you didn't want anything, buddy? I won't judge." Joseph offered before taking a sip of his iced tea. While Penny hadn't really asked for anything when their orders had been taken, he couldn't help but feel a tad guilty that he was stuffing his face while the meek girl in front of him hadn't a single thing to eat. Granny Erina had always taught him to be a gentleman to any lady friends he'd get, so this whole situation didn't really sit right with him. Especially since expenses were no real problem, thanks to this world's Speedwagon.

"I appreciate the offer, truly, but I'm afraid I already filled up before we ran into each other." Penny declined gently.

"Alright, then I guess we oughta get down to the heart of things, huh?" Joseph began after downing half his tea. "So… I'll just ask. What happened that night at docks? I heard from Ruby that you pretty much just came down and started doing some real damage, but after that, you apparently just vanished. I'm guessing you didn't get kidnapped or something stupid like that since you look A-okay, but that doesn't change the fact that you've been gone for a couple of weeks now. So… where the hell have you been?"

"Well, you see JoJo, soon after everything died down, I was picked up by my father's associates. Afterwards, I was asked not to… talk to you anymore. Or Ruby. Or Weiss. Or any of your other friend for that matter." Penny explained.

"Man, really!? What the hell!? It's not like any of me or my pals went and WANTED to cause a shoot-out over there! If anything, you should've been told to stay the hell away from those White Fang assholes." Joseph made no attempt to mask his annoyance with what he heard, grumbling the last part before he continued. "Sounds like your dad was pretty pissed off though."

"What!? No, not at all JoJo!" Penny exclaimed, clearly surprised by what she heard. "My father wasn't upset with me at all! He's a very sweet man, but he just worries about me a lot, especially since we aren't from Vale."

"You aren't?" Joseph said, raising an eyebrow.

"No, we're actually both from Atlas. Like I said before, I was brought here to compete in the upcoming tournament and learn more, but as you can imagine, my father gets quite worried about me since I'm so far from him and home. I have to make sure to call daily so he doesn't get worried."

"Hm… I wonder what something like that's like…" Joseph muttered under his breath, although not quietly enough to go unheard by Penny.

"What do you mean by that, JoJo?" The orange-haired girl asked, her tone as innocent as ever.

"Ah nothing! Nothing! Anyway, so it was your old man that told you not to talk to us anymore?" Joseph waved off quickly before trying to divert attention from his previous statement.

"No no. It wasn't my father that made that request, it was actually…" Penny trailed off as she looked out their booth's window, her face quickly going from thoughtful to shocked when she got a good look outside.

Outside the bar's windows were two men dressed up in grey silver armor. Judging by their colors and what Joseph actually bothered to listen to in history class, these guys appeared to be with Atlas' army… and they were both looking straight at them.

"Huh? Just what the hell are these clowns looking at?" Joseph questioned bluntly, oblivious to the shock and dread Penny's expression took on. It was only when she grabbed onto his wrist and pulled him out of the booth with a shocking amount of strength that he noticed the urgency on her face.

"JoJo… I think we should go." Was all she said, her tone dripping with urgency.

"Huh? What the hell's got you so on edge? Those assholes outside-"

 ***SLAM!***

"Hey! Hold it right there!"

At this point, Penny began to back away before turning around and breaking into a run, barging through the door that lead into the pub's kitchen to get away from the soldiers.

"Whoa, hey! Wait up!" Joseph yelled, shaking off his confusion to chase after Penny, completely ignoring the yells of the two soldiers that demanded he stop. Sprinting into the brightly lit kitchen filled with workers and the sound of cooking utensils being used, the muscular brunette spotted Penny just as she ran out the back exit, the door closing behind her.

' _What the hell's gotten into her!?'_ Joseph thought, more than a little confused by Penny's sudden bout of strange behavior. It was clear to see that those two soldier-boys has something to do with this, but what? Were they those 'associates' of her dear dad that she told him about?

"I thought we told you to stop!"

"Uh, questions for later then!" Realizing that he was probably better off not pondering into space while being pursued, the trickster quickly shoved those distracting thoughts into the back of his head and quickly sprinted out the back exit and after Penny.

 ***CRAAAASH!***

But not before tipping over a tall utility cart full of pots and kitchen appliances to slow down his pursuers of course.

' _IIIII'm gonna have to put that on Beacon's tab later…'_ Joseph thought at the back of his head as he slammed the back door shut, quickly looking for something he could block it with before the two soldiers came knocking down it. In a brief moment, his search yielded fruit when he happened upon an open dumpster.

"That'll work perfectly! _**「**_ _ **HERMIT PURPLE!**_ _ **」**_ " Putting his weight against the door, Joseph quickly outstretched both his hands and allowed his stand's purple vines to come sprouting out of them. With pin-point accuracy, they flew out at a rapid pace and…

 ***SNAP!***

Snapped the lid of the dumpster right off it's hinges! With a triumphant smirk, Joseph manipulated his stand so that the vines and lid were right above himself and the now banging backdoor. Once he was certain the positioning was perfect, he allowed his stand to vanish and rolled forward in one swift motion.

 ***SLAM!***

Getting back onto his feet, Joseph was pleased to see that his efforts had paid off. The backdoor to the restaurant was now successfully barricaded with the dumpster's heavy lid. Nobody was going to be coming in or out that door until that lid was moved out of the way.

"I don't care how strong aura makes the people in this world, you're not gonna get something like that out of the way without some serious elbow grease!" As if to confirm the validity of his words, immediately after he said this, Joseph began to hear some banging coming from the other side of the back door. It didn't take a genius to realize it was the soldiers that Penny had fled from. With any luck, that dumpster lid would at least buy the Joestar some time to find Penny and demand an explanation for her sporadic behavior.

' _Okay, where the hell did she run off to?'_ Joseph thought as he sprinted down the back alley, keeping a sharp eye out for any sign of bright orange, white, or green. In a brief moment, he was soon greeted with a diverging path for the alley, with the path straight ahead leading straight to the streets and another path to the left...also leading to the streets, albeit with a chain-link fence in the way. However, past the fence, Joseph could see Penny hurriedly sprinting down the alley and towards the streets. Without wasting any time, the brunette followed after her.

"Hey! Penny! Slow down for a minute, will ya!?" Joseph called after her, letting he stand sprout on the soles of his feet as he neared the fence. This action allowed him to bounce up and over the fence quickly and efficiently along, allowing him to maintain the speed of his pursuit. Unfortunately, Penny was still several paces ahead of him and at the speed he was going, wasn't likely to catch up anytime soon.

' _Fuck this! I need to speed up.'_ And with that goal in mind, Joseph slowed to a stop and crouched into the same position that a track runner gets into before a race starts. However, there was a point to this, for as soon as he got into position, the trickster immediately flooded hamon into the tips of his fingers and heels.

"Alright… _**NOW BOOST!**_ " And with that, Joseph burst out of his position and went speeding forward with the speed and power of a motorcycle at 80MPH. This ability was certainly one of the niftier tricks Joseph had picked up while experimenting with hamon. While he certainly couldn't maintain such an intense speed constantly, it was perfect for situations like these when he needed a spontaneous boost of speed.

"Coming through!" Joseph yelled, speeding past several shocked onlookers and across the street, causing multiple cars to come screeching to a halt.

By the time he reached Penny, the strange girl was currently sprinting down another alley. Speeding towards her, Joseph circled around her before skidding to a halt, stopping her from running any further.

"Enough with the running, Penny! Why did you run away from those guys, and for that matter, what the hell do those assholes even want with you!?" Joseph demanded, regaining his footing and pointing a finger at the bewildered girl. It seemed as though she hadn't expected the Joestar to catch up to her so quickly.

"I… It's just that-!" Penny did have enough time to finish her explanation before they both heard yelling back on the streets.

"I think they went this way, come on!" The yelling, of course, belonged to the two soldiers that Joseph thought he shook back at the pub, much to his shock.

"You're kidding me! I barred the door with a giant fucking dumpster lid! How the hell did those idiots get here so quickly!?" Joseph thought aloud, both bewildered and furious that those two soldiers _somehow_ managed to get back on their trail after he barred the back door. And that wasn't taking the distance he ran or his sudden boost of speed into account.

"I… I just can't let those men find me! Not yet!"

"Alright, but WHY!? Just what the hell is-" Penny didn't stay long enough for Joseph to finish however, apparently remembering that those soldiers were still after her and once again sprinted away. The alley Joseph was in currently was a straight shot from one city street to another, which meant she crossed another busy street. "Oh GOD DAMMIT!"

Throwing caution to the wind, Joseph quickly sprinted after her, ignoring the possibility of being hit by oncoming traffic.. And besides, there weren't a lot of cars on moving by the street after Penny passed. It should be fine."PENNY! Will you just slow the FU-"

 ***BEEEEEEP!***

"...Huh?" Joseph uttered, his blood having suddenly run cold and stopping dead in his tracks like a deer in headlights, which was a fitting comparison in this case. Against his better judgement, he mechanically turned his head to the right, only to be greeted with a gigantic truck speeding right towards him, it's horn honking all the while.

"FuuuuuuuUUUUUUUUUUUUUUAHHAHHH-!"

With surprise and horror having completely overtaken him, Joseph could only scream in horror, clench his eyes shut, and bring his hands up to his face in a vain attempt to shield himself as the truck sped towards him.

 ***CRASH!***

When the sound of crashing reached his ears, horror and adrenaline completely clouded his judgement and caused him to subsequently believe he died a surprisingly painless death, albeit a humiliating one when you took into account everything else Joseph faced in his life. In fact, Joseph couldn't help but note that death felt an awful lot like life.

However, this idiotic thought was subsequently forgotten when Joseph also realized that something might've stopped the car from hitting him. Tentatively opening his eyes, the trickster of the Joestar family was shocked beyond belief when he found the truck that was about to hit him stopped dead in it's tracks a few feet away from him, smoke steadily flowing out the hood.

"W-What the hell? Did my stand do this again?" The startled brunette murmured to himself, bringing his arms up to his face and letting his stand's vines sprout around them briefly. _**「**_ _ **Hermit Purple**_ _ **」**_ did appear to have a tendency to act on it's own to save his skin, but could it really do something like _this?_ This theory was immediately jossed however, when an innocent voice he had become quite familiar with spoke up beneath him.

"No, that was me, actually."

Looking downward immediately, Joseph saw Penny kneeling in front of the ruined front of the truck with her hands pressed against it. It appeared that she somehow had the strength to stop the truck with nothing but her bare hands just before it crashed into Joseph.

"Penny…!?"

"Are you alright, JoJo?"

"I… you're asking _me_ if I'm _alright!?_ You're the one who stopped a truck with your bare hands! What about you!?" Joseph demanded, snapping out of his stupor and helping Penny back onto her feet, dusting her off as he did so.

"Y-Yes, there's no reason for you to worry, but…" Penny trailed off, having suddenly become aware of the crowd her actions had drawn. The nervous, slightly afraid look on her face made it clear she wasn't comfortable having so many prying eyes on her. " Can we please leave? Quickly?"

"Ye-Yeah! Let's get the hell outta here!"

And with nothing more to be said, the two of them quickly sprinted away from the growing crowd of people as well as the soldiers before they could catch up.

Eventually, the two of them made it to a fairly open but secluded alley, with Joseph currently leaning around and checking back where they came.

"Alright… I think we lost them for good this time… Now it's time you start explaining!" Joseph stated when it was clear they shook their pursuers, now looking towards Penny with his gaze narrowed.

"U-Uhhhh…!"

"Penny, for the love of god! Less stuttering and more answering!" Joseph exclaimed, his frustrations with everything that's happened, from their constant interruptions to Penny's evasiveness, coming to a head. "Why were those soldier boys on the lookout for you!? How can you just stop a frickin' truck with your bare hands, and why does everything have to be so goddamn complicated around here!? It's not even complicated in the way I can appreciate it! Just annoying secrecy!"

"JoJo, please! There's nothing for you to **HIC-!** Worry about! E-Everything's fine **HIC-!** " Penny stammered out, her hiccups coming back with a vengeance.

"Oh really? Cause the fact that you can't say a single sentence without stammering or hiccuping is leading me to believe otherwise." Joseph remarked dryly, crossing his arms.

"You… you wouldn't understand even if I _did_ tell you! I don't think you'd be able to handle it…"

"...You're kidding me. You've been dodging around this whole issue because you don't think I can handle this bombshell you're about to drop? _Me!?_ Look, don't worry about it. Whatever you don't want me to hear, I guarantee you that I've heard crazier. Take my word for it." Joseph sighed, running a hand down his face in a vain attempt to to alleviate his stress. In response to hearing this, Penny, who had spent the entire conversation looking anywhere but at him, looked up and into the boisterous Joestar's eyes, and what he saw honestly caught him by surprise.

"You're… you're my friend, right? No matter what happens, you'll still be my friend, right…!?" The frightened, pleading look in her bright green eyes made it clear that what Penny requested of Joseph was the main reason she was so afraid. She was afraid of losing the first person that she could honestly call a friend.

"W-What!? THAT'S what got your panties in a bunch!? Come on Penny! I met my best friend back home after he tried to steal my wallet! If I can make friends with a guy that tried to steal from me, then you're sure as hell not gonna stop being my little buddy just because of some secret you're hiding! Now will you stop with this shitty melodrama and just tell me what's going on here!?"

For a brief moment, Joseph was concerned he might've come on a bit too strong there. The way Penny flinched at his words as though he insulted her certainly gave that indication. However, it seemed his words had the desired effect, for right after, Penny looked back up at Joseph and began to speak, worry still clear to see in her bright-green eyes.

"I'm... not a real girl…" She finally stated.

.

.

.

"Uh… pardon me?" Penny only winced when she heard this, holding out her clenched hands before Joseph.

"I'm… I'm a _**robot…**_ " And to prove her outlandish statement, she finally unclenched her hands, revealing that the skin on her palms had been torn up when she stopped the truck. Underneath it wasn't blood or muscle, but rather smooth and reflective metal that looked as though it belonged on armor as protective plating.

' _Her… her muscle! It's completely metallic, and her skin is hiding the metal like a coat of paint!'_ Joseph thought in awe, unable to pry his eyes away from the damaged, torn skin on her palms and the shiny, metallic muscle that it hid from prying eyes.

You… you're a full-fledged, made of metal robot!? Holy shit…" Joseph breathed out, clearly surprised by what he was hearing. In response to this, Penny took a moment to look at the metallic muscle underneath her artificial skin, a conflicted look on her face, before she continued.

"Most girls are born, but I was made. I'm the world's first synthetic person capable of generating an aura." As she continued with her explanation, a sullen expression began to grace her face. "I'm not real…"

"Hey, hey! Don't get all broody on me here! Nobody said you weren't real except you, and that's completely wrong, numbnuts!" Joseph assured Penny, firmly grasping onto her shoulders to snap her out of her stupor. "If I never found out about this whole thing, then I never would've realized you weren't human. You'd just be a weird as hell but likable girl in my book. Hell, you still are! Just a bit more metallic and magnetic now."

"I… well… JoJo, you're… taking this _extraordinarily_ well…" Penny said, leaning towards Joseph's face closely.

"What? Of course I am! Don't be so presumptuous, little buddy!" Joseph stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world, using his free hand to ruffle up penny's dark orange hair and push her head back, much to her surprise. "You're saying all this like you're the first robotic person I've made friends with!"

"You… you're friends with other robots!? Like me!?" Penny squacked, her tone bewildered and a look of pure wonder all too clear on her face.

"Yeah!... well… he was initially a human, but then he got blown to bloody chunks, so then he got rebuilt. Last time I checked, everything from the waist down was all mechanical, and that's not even counting all the techno crap he had from the waist up!" Joseph rattled off before he realized he was getting off topic. "Anyway, I couldn't care less about who or what you are. You're a stand-up gal, Penny, and don't forget it!"

And with a good-natured smile on his face, the trickster of the Joestar family placed Penny's checkered top hat back on her scalp, taking the chance to flick it upwards slightly and allowing him to get a good look at the look on her face, which held a distinct cross between astonishment and happiness.

"Ohhh! Oh JoJo! You're the best friend anyone could ever have!" Penny yelled gleefully, tackling the muscular brunette into a hug that, despite his broad stature and muscles, nearly sent him falling down to the ground. Something that Penny's newly revealed metallic body weight was most likely responsible for.

' _Woof! Yup, she is definitely a robot!'_ Joseph mentally groaned as he struggled to adjust to Penny's iron-like grip. "See what I mean? Underneath that… URK! Cold… metallic… exterior is a heart warm enough to heat up an oven…"

"You think so, JoJo? That sounds exactly like something my father would say to me!" Penny noted happily as she continued to nuzzle into Joseph's broad chest. If one were to look at this scene from a distance, then all they would see at first glance is a small, cute, orange-haired girl tightly hugging and burying her chest into a muscular young man that looks to be twice her size, completely unaware that this small girl had a grip of literal iron.

"Really now…? So, uh… I'm guessing that your 'father' is also your creator, right?" the brunette struggled to say as he tried to pry Penny off him.

"Yes, that's exactly right! He's a very sweet man, and he's also the one who personally educated me about Remnant and it's culture! I'm certain that you would love him if you get the chance to meet him!

As Penny continued her enthusiastic explanation, Joseph couldn't help but notice the fondness in her voice when she mentioned her father. It was clear to see that the artificial girl held a lot of care and respect for her only parental figure. In that regard, Joseph couldn't stop the slowly rising envy that was bubbling up within him. As much as he liked to dismiss it and pretend it didn't bother him, the muscular brunette couldn't deny that he was at least somewhat bothered by the lack of parents in his life. His father, he could understand. After all, Joseph somewhat doubted he wanted to get KIA during WW1, but his _mother,_ on the other hand? That pissed him off. For all he knew, she was probably off somewhere on Earth partying it up and living the good life, either having forgotten that she ever had a son or just not caring. If he ever met his mom in person, then he'd make sure to give that hag a piece of his mind!

"Still, that's pretty frickin' amazing. To think he could build a robot with a real personality and soul. Sounds like something straight out of fiction." Joseph noted, sounding quite impressed. Penny could only smile happily when she heard this, her cheeks getting dark slightly.

"Well, he did have Mr. Ironwood's help in building me." Penny admitted with a cheery smile.

"Ironwood? Isn't he the headmaster at the Atlas hunter school and some kinda general?" Joseph questioned, having happened across the general's name several times while browsing through Remnant's online media. "Why the hell would he help out in building you? Is he looking to go full megalomaniac and create an army of cute tiny robot girls to take over the world for him?" Call him cynical, but putting a general of a highly advanced army together with a young impressionable robot girl with the soul and mind of a human sounded like a recipe for disaster. Especially when that robot girl has super strength and the same kind of fighting ability of this world's warriors.

"Oh no! Of course not JoJo! Mr. Ironwood had no interest in my creation for something like that!" Penny replied quickly, her eyes wide and waving her arms in front of the skeptical Joseph in an attempt to convey to him that he had the wrong idea.

"Oh yeah? Then why were those soldier boys, who were pretty clearly from his army, so keen on catching you the moment they saw you?" The brunette continued to question, still not entirely convinced.

"That's only because they were assigned to protect me! You see, JoJo, it'll be my job to save the world one day, but my father and Mr. Ironwood aren't entirely convinced I can do it yet, so they've made sure to have some people watching over me, so I can be safe until then. In fact, I still have so much to learn, that it's part of the reason why I'm here for the Vytal festival! It's so I can learn more about the world around me first hand, as well as test myself."

"Waitwaitwait, you need to slow down here, buddy! Save the world from _what?_ Last time I checked, everything around here was all 'sunshine and lollipops,' isn't that why nobody around here will ever shut up about how it's a _**「**_ _ **time of peace?**_ _ **」**_ " Joseph questioned, making sure to put finger quotes up upon mentioning that _**「'**_ _ **time of peace'**_ _ **」**_ phrase that keeps getting mentioned. Now he was skeptical for a whole different set of reasons.

"Really? That's strange, everything Mr. Ironwood told me sounded like the exact opposite of 'sunshine and lollipops.' Did he forget to tell me something…?" Penny said, sounding just as confused as Joseph was.

"Check down here!"

However, before she could elaborate on just what she was supposed to save the world from, the sound of yelling from down the alley caught both Penny and Joseph's attention.

"Are you kidding me!? How the hell do they keeping finding us!?" The muscular Joestar demanded incredulously. Did Penny have a GPS installed in her somewhere!?

"Oh dear, it looks like they found us. You'd better get out of here JoJo. I don't want you to get in trouble." Was all Penny had to say, although compared to before, she didn't sound particularly troubled about being found now that she said what she needed to say.

"Nonsense! I've got the perfect means to get these punks off our tail!" Joseph stated confidently, clearly not worried about the approaching soldiers despite his surprise at being found again. Without skipping a beat, the Joestar quickly wrapped his arm around Penny's waist and brought her close before she could question what he was doing. His answer came in the form of _**「**_ _ **Hermit Purple**_ _ **」**_ shooting out from his free hand and latching onto the water tower of a nearby building. The moment he was certain his grip on Penny was secure, Joseph's stand rapidly pulled the both of them upwards.

"Alright! Time to blow this pop staaaa-URGH!"

 ***SLAM!***

Joseph didn't have enough time to finish that sentence before a shocking amount of weight on his arm caused him to accidently lose focus and dismiss his stand, sending him face-first into the concrete ground.

"Urrrrgh…" Joseph groaned out miserably, still lying face-first on the ground. "Was this supposed to happen, JoJo?" Penny questioned innocently, currently kneeling in front of the inert Joestar.

"Not really… We were supposed to land on the roof all triumphant and escape with no trouble…" Joseph groaned out after a moment, getting into a sitting position and rubbing his bruised face. A little hamon breathing would completely negate that bruising, but there wasn't anything to be done about his bruised ego. "But holy crap! You're so frickin' heavy! Just what the hell are you made of!?"

.

.

.

Joseph realized how idiotic that question was the moment the words left his mouth.

"Hold on a moment. I think I have a more efficient solution to our problem." However, Penny clearly wasn't bothered in the slightest by what Joseph said, for without skipping a beat, she suddenly grabbed the brunette by his armpits and lifted him up with no effort whatsoever.

"H-Hey! What the hell are you-!?" Joseph sputtered before glancing behind him and realizing that Penny was now bringing him towards an open dumpsters. "Wait. No, no. I know what you're about to do and- SON OF A BITCH DON'T THROW ME INTO A GODDAMN DUMPSTER!"

As one could likely tell, Joseph's protests fell upon deaf ears as Penny simply tossed him into the open dumpster before leaping up and grabbing onto it's lid.

"Don't worry JoJo! You don't need to stay in there long. Just until I leave with them, that's all." Penny reassured the disheveled brunette holding the lid open a crack so they could still talk.

"But that's just the thing! Do you really wanna go with these chucklefucks!? I could help you get away from them if you wanted!"

"JoJo, I assure you that you have the wrong idea. These aren't bad men, and I certainly haven't been treated badly by anyone. I'm only doing this so you won't get into trouble. Just promise me that you won't tell anyone else my secret. Okay?" The sincere tone in Penny's voice helped ease the lingering worries in the back of Joseph's head. Perhaps he was just thinking of Penny's creators in a far too heavy-handed light here.

"JoJo?" The grave expression on Penny's face reminded Joseph that he hadn't answered to his robotic buddy's request.

"Urgh… yeah, right. You're secret's safe with me, buddy." Penny could only smile appreciatively in response before she began to close the lid. However before she could close it fully, Joseph put his hand on the bottom of the lid, stopping her.

"Hey, listen. Before you go, I gotta ask. When do you think you'll be allowed to be out and about again?"

"Once I clear everything up, everything should be fine. Why do you ask?"

"Isn't it obvious? I'm gonna need to know when I can see my little buddy again!" The trickster stated it like was the most obvious thing in the world, a playful smile on his face. "C'mon! Did you really think I was gonna let my little buddy disappear on me again? Once we meet again, we'll go off and find something fun to do! Hell, you're a tourist here, right? Why don't we look around and enjoy the sights! If you can't enjoy foreign delicacies, then we'll just have to settle for the next best thing!"

While Joseph was convinced that Penny's creators didn't have anything nasty in mind for her, he could tell that the orange-haired robot lived a very sheltered life. A lot of the things she said seemed to imply she didn't get to go out all that often. All things considered, the girl could probably benefit from a little bit of fun and some time away from these stuffy soldiers.

"That…" And before Joseph could properly discern the tone in her voice, Penny suddenly reached into the dumpster and wrapped him in another bone-crushing hug. "Sounds truly wonderful! Yes! I'd love to!"

As Penny proceeded to gleefully squeeze the life out of Joseph, he numbly reflected that he probably should've seen this coming.

"Penny! What are you doing!? Why did you run away like that!?"

However, just when it seemed like she was going to hug him even longer, the familiar sound of soldiers calling out to her brought the synthetic human back to reality. Without a single word and only a wide-eyed, tight-lipped look on her face, Penny suddenly released Joseph from her hold, pushed his head into the dumpster and slammed the lid shut. It was pitch-black on the inside and smelled stagnant, but he could still hear the ensuing conversation just outside as clear as day.

"Oh nothing. I just had some trash that I needed to get rid of, that's all."

Joseph had to bite his tongue to stop any indignant protests when he heard this.

"Alright, and where is that guy you were with?"

"'Guy?' What guy? I've been by myself all day."

"Penny, please don't play games with us. We saw you in the window of that restaurant talking with that broad young man." It was clear that the soldiers weren't fooled by Penny's lie. Fortunately, she was able to recover from this rebuttal quickly.

"Ohhh! You mean that guy! He just started complimenting me and offered to buy me something to eat. Why do you ask? Is there something wrong?"

' _Ahhhh! I see what you're doing here, Penny! Nice! Nice! Very nice!'_ Joseph realized from his hiding spot, quite impressed with the quick thinking his innocent friend was displaying. It seemed like Penny was drawing from when that jobber delinquent was hitting on her and attempting to write off her time with Joseph as a similar experience. To put it simply, Penny was acting like Joseph was just some guy that was trying to put the moves on her and _not_ one of the people she was told to stay away from.

"Penny, I thought we went over what you should do when somebody like that approaches you." Joseph heard one of the soldiers sigh. "But that's besides the point. Please try not to cause such a scene in the future."

"In any case, are you alright?"

"Just a scratch." Joseph could only assume that she was showing both soldiers her exposed hands as she said this.

"Your father isn't going to be happy about this."

"Please, just come with us."

"Yes, sir!"

And with that, the sound of footsteps could be heard getting farther and farther away from the alley. Once he was certain the coast was clear, Joseph pushed the lid up and sat back against the inside of the dumpster, running a hand through his locks, something that was starting to become a habit of his.

"What a life I live… when the hell are these surprises gonna stop?" Joseph groaned, leaning his head back and staring straight into the bright blue sky in front of him….

"SQUEEK!"

"OH SHIIIT! DON'T BITE ME YOU LITTLE FUCKING RODENT!" ...Only to panic and stumble back into the dumpster when he realized he wasn't the container's only occupant.

* * *

 **(Later on. Sundown.)**

' _Damn… it's been an hour now, and I still can't get my mind off what friggin' happened!'_ Joseph thought to himself, his calm face betraying his cluttered thoughts as he walked down the airship's ramp, having finally made it back to the airway that led to Beacon. _'I probably shouldn't be too surprised. After all, this world's tech is way more advanced than mine and the Germans still managed to completely rebuild Stroheim after he was blown to smithereens. I guess finding out someone is made up of nuts, bolts, and metal never really loses it's shock appeal.'_

"Eh, I might just be overthinking things here, Penny's a sweetheart either way. Still though… why the hell is someone as sweet as her built with super strength and all sorts of other crazy gadgets? And what the hell was she talking about when she said she was built to 'save the world?'" Was something big and bad going to fracture this 'time of piece' the Beacon teachers and other people kept talking about? Considering this was a crazy futuristic fantasy world straight out of a comic book, Joseph wouldn't be surprised if this was indeed the case.

In any case, as Joseph continued down the walkway illuminated by the slowly setting sun, he decided that he would have to keep an eye out for anything strange until he could find a way home. Whether he liked it or not, Remnant was the trickster's home now, and any big time problems on a similar scale to the Pillar Men would consequently affect him too.

' _Whatever. I don't even have anything to go on right now. Might as well keep my priorities straight and focus on how to get out of here. That'll fucking show Yang!'_ And with that, Joseph shoved any current speculation about Penny's words to the back of his head and started to lightly jog down the pathway. Since there was still daylight to burn, he may as well take a look through the library for anything interesting before he went back to his dorm.

"C'mon Hashi, we're burning daylight here! Let's speed this up a bit, huh?"

However, his attention was diverted when he heard a familiar female voice give out some orders, amusement clear to be heard underneath it all. Looking towards the source of the voice, Joseph was saw Coco Adel currently overseeing this incredibly tall and broad man push a large luggage cart stacked to the brim with heavy-looking briefcases down the long walkway. Funnily enough, despite looking larger and stronger than Joseph, the big guy seemed to be having some difficulties moving the cart.

"Coco, if you don't mind me saying, this would be a lot easier if you didn't pack your _entire goddamn wardrobe._ " The giant of a man responded, his tone not masking his annoyance in the slightest.

"Well excuse me for not wanting to be left with nothing but dirty clothes half-way through this assignment we got." The fashionista joked, although the grimace on the big guy's face implied he didn't find it very funny. When it was clear to see that her attempt at humor wasn't appreciated, she quickly continued. "C'mon, take it easy big guy. Tell you what, before we leave Vale, I'll buy you some lunch at wherever you want. How's that sound? It'll be my way of saying thanks."

"Fine, but I'm not gonna spare any expenses. Just thought you deserved a fair warning." The big guy stated gruffly before he continued to push the cart of briefcases down the path.

"That's a lotta stuff you're making that guy cart off. You guys going camping?" Joseph asked, walking up to the brown-clad fashionista with a slightly curious gaze.

"Oh, hey Joestar. Yeah, something like that. Essentially, me and the team were just assigned a mission out in the grimmlands. Once you end up on your 2nd year here, you tend to get assigned missions to go on. It's to prep you for the real deal when you graduate." Coco greeted, tipping her sunglasses down slightly when she realized she had company.

"Oh really? What kinda mission? A top-secret espionage kind?" Joseph asked jokingly, admittedly quite intrigued.

"Well, I wouldn't really go off and call it 'top-secret,' but yeah, we just got ourselves a mission assignment. Village protection from Grimm and bandits, seek-and-destroy, that kinda thing." Coco answered, chuckling slightly at the wording of the muscular brunette's question.

"Ah, t-there you are Coco! Good, for a moment, I was worried the ship took off without me." Before Joseph could respond, however, a voice that was familiar to the two brunettes spoke up from behind them. Turning around, they were both greeted with Velvet Scarlatina, looking as meek as usual, with a bag for long-distance trips secured to her shoulder.

"Hey hey! Nice to see you, Velvet Cake! Glad I to see you before you got on that airship." Joseph greeted happily, pleased to see the friendly little rabbit faunus before she embarked on this trip.

"Ah, JoJo! It's nice to see you." Velvet greeted, a warm smile on her face and her face reddening upon hearing the Joestar's nickname for her. "Judging by what you said, I'm guessing Coco told you we're about to head off on a mission?"

"Yeah, I've heard… say, I've been meaning to ask. How long do these whole missions take anyway?" Joseph asked the two second-year students, turning around and taking a look at the grounded airship at the end of the large cobblestone path. It was quite the sight to behold with the twilight sky framed behind it. "It already sounds like it takes forever to just get over to this village in the middle of nowhere, so how long does it take to complete it and get back here? A couple weeks? A mo-"

 ***Squeeeeze.***

Of course, anything else Joseph had to say died in his throat, his body also going completely rigid, when he suddenly felt a dainty hand give his ass a hearty squeeze out of nowhere.

"Wow Velve, tone it down a little bit, will you? I get you're a horny bunny and all, but have a little tact!"

"Wha-Whawhat!?"

"W-What the hell!?" The trickster sputtered in response. Spinning around quickly quickly enough to give himself whiplash, Joseph was greeted with the sight of a stern-looking Coco looking down an incredibly embarrassed Velvet, who's entire face was now a deep shade of scarlet and was desperately tripping over her words in an attempt to say something.

"B-But-! I-I didn't-! You-!"

"Alright, which one of you has the fucking balls!?" Joseph demanded furiously, one hand covering his rear and the other covering his mouth, mainly so nobody would see the growing red blush on his face.

"Sorry about my teammate, Joestar. You know how crazy certain faunuses can be when it's that time of the year. And to think she'd do it in the middle of public like this. I thought I raised her better." Coco explained, a disappointed tone in her voice, although it was quite easy to see that her disappointment was only masking some great amusement at what transpired, and rather poorly at that.

"Don't act like this is some big joke you smarmy bastard! I don't appreciate people getting up in my goddamn personal space like that!" Joseph yelled at Coco heatedly before turning towards Velvet, who could only squeak in apprehension, her face still dark red.

"And you! You do not just go around and cope a feel without even asking!" Joseph rattled off indignantly, much to the blushing faunus's mortification. However, just when she thought things couldn't get any worse, her crush's next statement broke through a whole new threshold she didn't even know existed. "You gotta ask before you do something like that. Next time, make sure you ask permission before you try and feel me up."

That statement was the final nail in the coffin for the overheating faunus. Her eyes now going completely white from the sheer shock of the experience, she suddenly clutched onto her mouth and nose with both hands desperately before she dropped to her knees, her eyes still completely white from shock, and oddly enough, _blood could be seen leaking out between her fingers and dripping onto down the cobblestone path._ _ **(3)**_

"Ah geeze, now she's all triggered. Well," Coco sighed, sliding Velvet's bag off her shoulder before grabbing her by the waist, and with a huff, slung the near catatonic bunny Faunus over her shoulders, doing the same for her bag as well. "I gotta go get her on the airship before it leaves without us, so I gotta get going."

"Fine, just make sure you remind her to touch up on her goddamn manners! Got it?" Despite the irritation in his voice, it was clear to see that Joseph wasn't truly bothered by what happened. Coco seemed a bit relieved by this, judging by her quiet exhale.

"You got it. I'll see you around Joestar." Coco said, raising her free hand as she continued down the pathway, leaving the trickster to his thoughts.

"Yeah, see ya. Good luck on your mission, or whatever." Joseph said, waving his hand offhandedly before rubbing his rear slightly. Once all bits of discomfort from that violation of his personal space were dispersed, he couldn't help but look up at the dark orange sky in reflection of what happened today.

' _Hmm… well, I guess today was pretty good in the grand scheme of things.'_ Indeed, while today was certainly unexpected and certainly bizarre in many regards, Joseph couldn't deny that he also enjoyed himself greatly. After all, he _did_ happen across a friend of his that had been missing for weeks, got to enjoy some delicious grilled food, and he also couldn't deny that Velvet or Coco or whoever just groping him out of nowhere was a pretty nice boost to his ego, regardless of how… surprising and off-putting it was initially...

Altogether, he felt today really helped get his mind off things. And that was all he really asked for…

* * *

' _Alright, extra weight aside, I'd say that went pretty well.'_ Coco thought, a pleased smirk on her face as she began to catch up to Yastuhashi and Fox. When she finally caught up to her two other teammates, they both had their brows raised questionably at the limb form of Velvet on her shoulder, but a simple wave off from Coco was enough to placate them, at least until they got settled on the airship.

So, as most of you have likely realized, it was not actually Velvet who pulled off that rather ballsy act. To clarify for anyone who is not particularly perceptive, the perpetrator of Joseph's ass grope was actually Team CFVY's leader. Upon seeing Joseph turn around as he asked the two of them about missions, leaving his backside completely exposed, the fashionista couldn't help but note how much of a perfect opportunity this was to both watch a little chaos unfold and help things progress for her meek friend, because lord knows things would keep going at a snail's pace with the way Velvet and Joseph's conversations kept proceeding. They were cute and all, but sometimes you gotta take the big chance if you're gonna go anywhere.

And so, without wasting any time, Coco pushed Velvet forward so she could be incriminated and gave Joseph's pleasantly firm rear a nice squeeze. With the rabbit faunus's shocked reaction and knowing how flustered she'd get, it was quite easy to pin things on her before she could object to anything.

' _And Yatsuhashi acts like I don't pull my own weight~.'_ Coco thought, a small, sly smile on her face as she carried her near-catatonic teammate towards the airship.

 _ **-To be continued...**_

* * *

 **1\. So… just do yourself a favor and try not to think too hard about how Joseph could've saved himself** _ **without**_ **breaking Team RWBY's TV. That was mainly just for the sake of comedy.**

 **2\. Let this be clear. I'm NOT character bashing and this chapter hasn't sunk or confirmed any ships. I just believe that a conflict between Joseph and Yang was inevitable and unexpected. It's normal for friends to get into fights, and with two people as brash and hot-headed as Joseph and Yang, an argument like this was inevitable.**

 **3\. Not gonna lie, I really enjoy making Joseph give the women in this story perverted nosebleeds. It's sure as shit not a harem, but that doesn't mean the ladies of RWBY don't think he's hot. I mean just look at the guy!**

 **And there you have. Now, let me just go off and apologize for the really nasty wait for this one. These past couple of months have been pretty hectic, what with taking care of ill relatives and catching some really bad illnesses myself. I'm not gonna go off and try and promise a sooner update, but I would like to let all of you know that I'm genuinely sorry.**

 **On an unrelated note, y'know what I really wanna write after I get to a good stopping point in this story? A crossover between JoJo and Gravity Rush. Mainly because I like the idea of Young Joseph using Hermit Purple to swing around the floating city with Kat and the two of them fucking around and fighting bad guys. Plus… I just love pairing everyone's favorite fashion disaster beefcake up with girls from other franchises ._.**

 **It's done… it's finally fucking done! Now if you excuse me, I'm gonna go get some sleep, roll around on the floor in glee, play video games with a guilt-free conscience, and blast 'The Broly Chronicles' into my headphones at top volume. Not in that order.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Fooo… hey there… Look, I can't apologize enough for how long the wait has been for this new chapter. It's just that I'm going through a pretty important phase in my life and my schedule's been kind of completely full. Additionally, what free time I do get is usually after 10 hours of fucking work. You ever try to sit down and write after working a construction job for the entire goddamn day? And with a completely infuriating person? It's not pleasant, I can assure you.**

 **But I didn't write this just to fucking bore you with a few paragraphs of ANs, so here's the newest chapter of Joseph Joestar: Hamon Hunter (the pages this chapter are in the sixties, so I at least wanted to make it worth the wait!) and I sincerely hope you all enjoy this new chapter!**

 **IMPORTANT: Just to clear things up, I had to change I single piece of dialogue at the very end of chapter 14. You'll know what I'm talking about once you read this chapter. Anyway, enjoy.**

 **DISCLAIMER: I… I don't even have the fucking energy for this BS...**

 **Joseph Joestar: Hamon Hunter**

 _If there was one thing that Robert Edward O. Speedwagon the third always made time for in his day, it was for a piping hot cup of black coffee topped off by the latest news stories on his scroll. With the sheer reality-defying bizarreness that his profession entailed, the young CEO had grown to appreciate some of the more simple and grounded things like this in life while growing up in Atlas. In addition to a piping hot cup of joe and the latest stories, Speedwagon always enjoyed the sight of Atlas' brisk, wide, landscape blanketed in snow in the morning. It was a sight that, combined with his previously mentioned amenities, always got him ready for the day ahead of him._

 _As Speedwagon sat on a bench at Beacon's entry pathway, enjoying the sight of the beautiful blue lake that academy was situated over, as well as the sight of Vale in the distance, he decided that this view was a close 2nd compared to the view in Atlas._

'Hmm… not bad in the slightest…' _Speedwagon thought as he enjoyed another sip of coffee from his thermos._ 'Hmhm, I can only imagine that Ozpin is quite picky when it comes to the coffee beans that get sent here.' _As Speedwagon made this mental observation, he couldn't help but take a moment to think of Beacon's headmaster. Despite being the head of one of Remnant's four greatest huntsman schools, Professor Ozpin was still quite the enigmatic figure. With all his cryptic words and how he carried himself around others, it was clear to see that the lack of information about Ozpin was deliberate on his part. Speedwagon could only wonder if Glynda, who he likened to something like Oz's assistant, knew more about the cryptic man_. _If she did, then it was likely more than what anyone else on this planet knew_. ''Oz…' 'Ozpin.' Hm, now that I think of it, I don't believe I've ever actually heard his first name in all the time that we've known each other! In fact, do any official documents about Beacon even _state_ what his full name is? I can't help but wonder if anyone's actually questioned this in the past…'

 _ ***Whirrrrrr….***_

 _As the young CEO continued with this admittedly pointless and disjointed train of thought, he was only vaguely aware of the sound of airship engines slowly getting closer. Writing it off as some incoming transfer students or something along those lines, Speedwagon ignored the noises without much thought and continued to read through the news, gently placing his open thermos right next to him on the bench._

'Urgh… why are so many crude and pointless subjects on the front pages? Don't these people have any subjects to write about? Possibly something regarding some decent news?' _Speedwagon thought with distaste, so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice the steadily increasing sounds of engines._

 _ ***WHIIRRRRR….!***_

" _My! I-It's certainly become quite drafty now, hasn't it?" Speedwagon thought aloud, beginning to notice just how much louder the engine's sounds became and the sudden increased drafts that came with it. With his three-piece suit, a choice of attire that the men of the Speedwagon family were known for, getting rustled up from all the drafts, the blonde man tried to get up to reorient himself and fix his clothes up._

 ***SPLASH!***

" _SWEET MERCIFUL MAIDENS WHY!?"_

 _Unfortunately for the ever-present Speedwagon, the drafts became so great that the force caused his thermos to tip over, spilling the piping hot contents all over his lower waist._

" _RRRRGGH…! Curse this efficient means thermal storage…!" Speedwagon yelped in searing hot pain, getting right back onto his feet as his hot coffee soaked through his suit and gave him what felt like first-degree._

 _As Speedwagon made some feeble attempts to wipe off the hot liquid, a difficult task made even worse by the lack of rags or napkins, he made a point of looking down so the wind wouldn't get in his face. Because of this, the blonde man was completely unaware of the very familiar figure that came walking out the airship once it was properly docked._

" _Robert? Robert is that you?" Upon hearing that familiar, gruff voice call out his name in mild surprise, Speedwagon took a break from cleaning his stained suit to turn around, and he was greeted with a very familiar face._

" _Well, I'll be damned! JAMES! What a surprise!" Speedwagon said happily, ignoring the first degree around his lower waist to greet James Ironwood with a boisterous and welcoming tone. "How are you doing my friend? What brings you here?"_

" _I'm doing quite well Robert. As for why I'm here, I thought I'd spend some time in Vale until the Vytal festival and tournament begins. It_ is _closer than many would assume, after all." Ironwood chuckled, casting his worn and experienced gaze towards the illustrious academy in the distance. However, while the Atlas general's gaze was on Beacon, Speedwagon's sight was cast on the entire military fleet Ironwood brought with him, a questioning look in his eyes._

" _I'd normally be inclined to believe you, but your bringing an entire Atleasian fleet with you leads me to believe you came here for business, rather than pleasure." Speedwagon noted._

" _Well, let's just say that I also had some matters I wished to discuss with Oz while I'm here." The Atleasian general stated elusively, causing Speedwagon to subtly roll his eyes in exasperation. But before he could speak up, James continued. "But I certainly didn't expect you to be the first face I greeted when I arrived at Beacon! Did you also come for the tournament? I didn't have you pegged for the type to be interested in something like that."_

" _James, please, you don't need to be so illusive with me. You and I are now on the 'same boat.' " The dapper man explained calmly, causing Ironwood's expression to become one of surprise._

" _Oh! I see! So Ozpin decided to uh… place you in the know as well then?" James asked slowly, making sure to pick his words carefully in case he and Speedwagon were NOT talking about the same thing._

" _Indeed he did! I came to Beacon a week or two ago because Oz told me he discovered some important matters related to my family's business." Speedwagon explained, causing James' metal brow to arch in curiosity. "However, I'll inform you of the details after the fact. Right now, I'm certain Ozpin would like to know why you've decided to bring an entire military fleet with you to his school."_

" _Yes… I'm sure he would." James sighed. He was well aware that neither Ozpin nor Glynda appreciated spectacles such as these, but with the threats that they all knew were lurking just beyond the horizon, he felt- no, he_ _ **knew**_ _it was important to show those threats exactly what they were dealing with! With this thought in mind, James continued. "In any case, Oz is a reasonable man. I'm certain he'll understand my intentions once I explain them to him."_

" _I have no doubt he will." Speedwagon chuckled, not putting too much faith in his words. From what he knew of Ozpin, he seemed to prefer a more subtle approach to things, especially when compared to James' whole 'one man bringing an entire army' mindset. "In any case, why don't I walk you to the school's tower? I'll be able to give you a decent understanding of my situation here until you finish your business with Ozpin. Then we'll sit down and discuss it because… well… it's not exactly a matter that can be explained entirely during a brisk walk."_

" _Well Rob, you've piqued my interest, I'll give you that." James laughed, throwing his right arm around Speedwagon's shoulder merrily, seemingly not noticing how his grip was so steely and tight that it locked the poor man in a vice-like shoulder lock, or the clear discomfort._

" _I…_ _ ***AHEM!***_ _see your right arm is working as efficiently as ever." Speedwagon managed to groan out, forcing his head out of his long-time friend's grip before straightening out his bowler cap._

" _I keep it regularly maintained." The white-clad general joked happily as he and his fellow Atleasian began their trip over to the headmaster of Beacon's office._

* * *

WIthin Beacon Academy's library, the four members of Team RWBY were engaged in an intense duel. This duel was one that truly tested each member of the female team's tactical prowess and cunning against one another. Any and all moves could become a deciding factor and every play was a fair play. A single decision of change of tactics from any of these young women could change the very direction of this intense battle of wits and cunning.

Yang Xiao Long, prepare your kingdom for battle!"

"Bring it on!"

Brace yourself, for I am now going to deploy the **ATLEASIAN AIRFLEET!"**

 ***GASP!*** "You FIEND!"

And that intense activity the four girls were engaged in was playing against each other in a children's card game, with each member of the team displaying varying levels of interest. In what could only be described as a childish team bonding exercise, both Ruby and Yang dragged their far more aloof partners off to Beacon's library to participate in a game of the simply named 'Remnant' a strategy board game focusing on conquering the entirety of the lush fantasy world. While Ruby and her sister had been engaged in an intense duel of wits (That the silver-eyed girl was about to lose horribly), Weiss was more confused as to what to do than immersed while Blake just seemed detached from the goings on entirely.

It was also worth noting that Team JNPR was present at the table across from them, with the rag-tag team having come there to study. Although it was worth noting that only Pyrrha and Ren were really making any real effort to educate themselves. Nora had fallen asleep some time ago and was dreaming about enjoying some hot, fresh, baked goods slathered in syrup while Jaune was trying (and failing) to enjoy a comic book without Pyrrha noticing. An ill-fated endeavor as the red-headed gladiator simply swiped the comic out from the knight's gaze before placing a far more educational book out for him to read. Jaune could only sigh in resignation at this… while Pyrrha proceeded to continue where he left off on the comic, an intrigued smile on her face.

"NOOOOOO! MY BRAVE SOLDIERS!"

"Eh, most of them were probably androids anyway."

Meanwhile, back with the peanut gallery, Yang proceeded take down Ruby's entire kingdom in a manner that would make the Lord Of Boardgames himself proud.

"Have you no heart, you blond tyrant!?" Was all Ruby could furiously proclaim before falling face first on the table, overtaken by anguish. "Noooooo!"

"Well Weiss, it's your turn." Yang stated cheerily, still riding high off the feeling of victory. In response to this, Weiss took a single look down at her deck, looking completely unsure of what she was supposed to be doing, before speaking up.

"I… absolutely no idea of what's going on." In response to this, the blonde brawler slid up to the heiress and gave her a basic idea of what her deck consisted of and essentially informed her that she was only three moves away to winning and conquering Remnant (The boardfgame equivalent at least). She was quite pleased with this revelation!... at least until Yang activated her trap card, then she proceeded to delve into melodramatic tears not unlike the ones her partner was shedding.

"Alright Blake, you're up!" Yang told her faunus partner while Ruby and Weiss were tearfully comforting each other. In response to being addressed, Blake's previously tired and vacant expression lit up in surprise.

"Huh? Oh… uh, sorry, but what am I doing again?" Blake asked lamely, having barely paid any attention to the proceedings since they got to the library.

"You're playing as Vale trying to conquer the kingdoms of Remnant!" Ruby informed Blake helpfully, she and Weiss having bounced back from their tearful slump rather quickly.

"Hey! Can uh, can I play?" Jaune suddenly piped up, having left his table after getting bored of studying rather quickly.

"Sorry Jaune, we've already reached the limit on players." Yang informed the rookie swordsman, looking at her deck in deep thought as she contemplated the best way to conquer the last obstacle in the way of Mistral's glorious world-wide victory.

"Besides, this game requires a certain level of tactical finesse that I _seriously_ doubt you possess." Weiss added in haughtily.

"Uh… you attacked your own naval fleet two turns ago, 'Grandmaster tactician.'" Yang piped up, getting a small 'hmph!' from Weiss.

"Bring it on, Ice Queen! I'll have you know that I've been told that I'm a _natural born leader._ " Jaune claimed proudly, refusing to back down.

"By who? Your mother?" Weiss scoffed.

"A-And Pyrrha!" Jaune added in hastily. ("Hello again!" Pyrrha greeted in the background, as cheerful as usual.) When it was clear that Weiss wasn't going to budge, the knight-in-training quickly changed his approach.

"Come on, just let me play your hand for a turn or two!" Jaune asked, balling his hands up in front of him.

"I am _not_ going to trust you with the fine citizens of Vacuo!" However, Weiss still made it clear she wasn't interested in letting Jaune near her kingdom, holding her cards to her chest protectively.

"Why not!? You've all trusted me with _way_ more important stuff before! I mean you told me that Blake is secretly a fau-" " _Fun-loving person!_ Whom we admire in respect!" And before Jaune could ram his foot any _further_ down his throat, Pyrrha quickly zipped over to her leader and slammed a palm over his mouth, doing what she could to salvage the situation. Of course, when everyone present turned to look at that 'fun-loving person whom they all respect,' none of them were surprised to see her giving Jaune a stare that indicated she wasn't very happy right now.

"...right. That was what I was going to say. Ladies, enjoy your battle." Well-aware that he'd probably overstayed his welcome, Jaune decided that he'd head back to his team's table, giving the four girls a mock-bow before leaving them to their devices.

"'Sup losers~?" Of course, before any of them could say a thing or attempt to continue their game, a cheerful voice to Blake's right caught their attention. Turning towards it, Team RWBY was greeted with Sun giving them a peace sign, his smile matching his tone of voice.

"Hey sun!" Ruby greeted first, just as cheerful.

"Ruby, Blake, Yang… _Ice Queen,_ " ("Why does everyone keep calling me that!?" Weiss demanded in frustration.) "I never got a chance to formally introduce any of you to my friend." He explained, gesturing towards Neptune, who had been lagging behind him before.

"Uh… aren't libraries for reading?" Neptune asked, having heard all the commotion from the girls' game from a mile away, additionally getting a frustrated 'THANK YOU!' from Ren, who had previously been completely quiet.

"C'mon, don't be a nerd." Sun muttered in exasperation, only to be shushed by an annoyed Neptune.

"Geh geh geh! 'Intellectual,' okay? Thank you." Neptune reminded his partner, shaking his finger to emphasize his point. "Anyway, I'm Neptune."

"So Neptune, where are you from?" Weiss suddenly asked, unable to stop the small smile that was slowly growing on her face.

"Haven." Neptune claimed smoothly, approaching the white-haired heiress with a affable smile. "Aaaaand I don't believe I caught your name, Snow Angel."

"Uhm… I'm Weiss." Weiss introduced herself, hoping that the way her face was heating up wasn't visible.

"A Pleasure to meet you." Upon seeing how the two were hitting it off, and considering his _own_ attempt at calling Weiss that when they first met went pretty horribly, Jaune couldn't stop himself when he let out a frustrated 'ARE YOU _KIDDING ME!?'_ , Although only his teammates seemed to notice this frustrated outburst.

"I never took you as the board game playing type." Sun noted upon seeing that the all-girl team was playing a board game. However, the moment Sun said this, Blake took another look down at the game and her cards before she put the cards down and got up.

."Right. I think I'm done playing actually. I'll see you guys later." The tone in Blake's voice made it clear that she was trying to sound as nonchalant as possible, but her tense posture and the way she shoved Sun aside as she walked towards the library's exit made it all too clear that something was on her mind.

"Eh, women." The first to break the silence that ensued from Blake's exit was Nora, who simply performed a nonchalant shrug before going back to sleep.

"Uhm… Is she doin' alright?" Was all Sun managed to say once the black-haired faunus was out of sight.

"Doesn't look like it. Broody IS kind of her default mood, but she's been taking it to the next level lately." Yang noted, concern clear in her voice. It was only for a moment though before her upbeat mood returned to her. "So, with that in mind, why don't we be good teammates and pester her till she tells us what's bugging her?"

"Works for me!" Ruby agreed enthusiastically.

"I'd normally prefer approaching this with more tact, but considering this _is_ Blake we're talking about, the straightforward approach might work better." Weiss said after a moment's thought.

And with that in mind, the three girls said their goodbyes to their current company before heading off to go looking for their faunus teammate. However, before they could go down a floor, they were greeted with a familiar figure walking up the building's main stairway, his posture relaxed. Upon realizing who they were about to run into, Yang, who had previously been as relaxed and cheerful as usual despite Blake's odd behavior, suddenly looked visibly upset and irritated as the muscular young man made his way up the stairs.

"Oh _great…"_ Yang murmured under her breath, annoyance clear in her tone as Joseph Joestar began to notice their presence.

"Oh! Team RWBY minus one kitten. How're you guys doing?" Joseph greeted upon seeing the three girls, making sure to keep a fairly neutral expression while in the presence of a certain blonde girl.

"Oh, y'know, just board games and team building exercises. Now we're just going to go look for Blake to see what's bothering her. She's in another mood, you know how it is when she gets like that." Ruby stated, a small smile on her face and trying to sound cheery. The sudden tension in the air was noticed by both the silver-eyed girl and the heiress, but neither felt that they should address it as of now. Weiss simply opted to stay quiet for now while Ruby tried to strike up a conversation. "What about you though? With how you hate attending classes and everything, I wouldn't really expect you to show up here willingly."

"Ah, yeah… I'm gonna be meeting up with a pal of mine here soon, so I'm just getting here early so I don't miss him. Still got an hour to go." Joseph explained, looking off to the side as he addressed the silver eyed girl. As he said this, Ruby couldn't help but think about how the Joestar always seemed to rather tense around the all-girl team as of late. It had been happening for a few days now with no sign of stopping.

' _He's usually so jolly. I wonder what's bothering him…? Actually, I might have an idea what the problem is now that I think about it._ ' Ruby thought with slight concern. Despite what many people would likely assume about Ruby Rose, she wasn't as naive or terrible at reading the atmosphere as they thought, and currently, the silver-eyed girl could tell that whatever was irking her friend had something to do with her normally boisterous sister. The fact that her normally friendly and exuberant attitude was replaced with a cold, apathetic tone whenever they ran into Joseph the past couple of days was proof of this.

"Forgive me for prying… but are you alright, Joseph? You don't seem like yourself." Weiss asked, ignoring the snort from the Joestar as she did so. Despite the constant spats she and Joseph got into, Weiss had to admit that it was quite disconcerting seeing Joseph like this. It just didn't feel right when you took his usual character into account.

"Just whaddya mean by that? I'm doing great! How am I NOT fine?" Joseph questioned. However, despite having the usual amount of gusto in his voice when he said that, both the heiress and her partner weren't convinced by the brunette's words.

"Well, it's just that the past couple of days, you've been kind of-" However Ruby didn't get the chance to finish her concerned statement before Yang interrupted.

"Can we stop wasting time? I thought we needed to talk to Blake." The annoyance and impatience in the blonde's voice seemed to confirm Ruby's suspicions. Without waiting for a response, Yang strided past the 3 of them and heading towards the stairs, but not before bumping into Joseph's side, making a point of shoving him aside none too gently

" _Sorry."_ Yang said noncommittally, the bitter tone in her voice making it clear that she was anything but sorry. And before Joseph could come up with any form of angry response, Yang was already gone and heading down the stairway.

"First Blake, now Yang? Just what's been going on with our team?" Was all Weiss had to say in response to what she just saw, irritated with her teammates' irrational behavior.

"Yeah… I think I see what you mean there…" Ruby muttered, concern lacing her voice, before turning towards Joseph. Perhaps the brunette would provide them with an explanation after such an open display of hostility on Yang's part.

"Peh, why the hell are you two looking at me? If you're so curious about what her deal is, why don't you ask Miss Sunshine and Rainbows herself?" Unfortunately, Joseph's annoyed response to her look crushed any chance of that happening.

"We could, but it's just that Yang seemed way more annoyed when you…" Ruby trailed off, losing her confidence as Joseph walked away from her and Weiss and further into the library. "Aaaand he's gone. Great."

"Just leave it be, Ruby. I think we have enough on our plate right now with Blake, and apparently Yang as well." Weiss sighed before gesturing for the silver-eyed girl to follow. "Come on, let's go find them."

As Weiss began to follow after her two disgruntled teammates, Ruby gave the leaving Joestar one last concerned look before following after the heiress.

' _I hope he and Yang cheer up soon. Blake's always kinda moody, so this is nothing new, but seeing the both of them like this is really… unpleasant.'_

* * *

" _Fucking smarmy blonde punk. She's even worse than Caesar when we first met.'_ Joseph thought bitterly, having more than a few colorful things he'd like to say about Yang and her jerk-ish behavior towards him. She could keep up the 'angry and aloof' phase all she'd like, he wasn't gonna budge on what he said a few days ago and that was final! It wasn't his fault she didn't know shit!

"Hey fellas, mind if I take a seat?" Without waiting for an answer, the brunette dragged a nearby chair over to team JNPR's table and slumped into it, his expression anything but cheery.

"Not at all, JoJo. Please, make yourself comfortable." Pyrrha assured him, her expression sympathetic. It was clear that Joseph was in a rather sour mood, and she wasn't in any rush to make him any more upset.

"Thanks. You're a real sweetheart, Pyrrha. You know that?" Joseph thanked the redhead before looking through his scroll, trying to occupy himself with something.

"Yeesh, seems like everyone's in a sour mood today." Sun couldn't help but note, earning him an irritated glance from Joseph.

"Well I'm sorry that we can't all be actin' all piss and vinegar when _WHEN SOME ASSHOLES_ don't know when the fuck they're wrong." The muscular brunette said irritably, making sure to shout that one part of his sentence towards where he last heard Yang,

" _FUCK OFF, JOESTAR!"_

Judging by that familiar, energetic voice's furious rebuttal, it seemed that Joseph's exclamation hit it's mark. Upon hearing this furious exclamation, a bitter, satisfied smirk appeared on the muscular brunette's face before he leaned back into his chair, placing both his hands behind his head.

"It can never be a calm, quiet day in here with you people, can it?" Ren groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose in clear frustration.

"So… I'm not exactly a relationship expert or anything, but I'm guessing you and Yang still aren't exactly on… uh, good terms, huh?" Jaune noted, earning a scoff from Joseph.

"Damn right we are! She's just being a moody little brat because she's angry I don't wanna stay here!" Joseph grumbled out, earning some surprised looks from Jaune and Pyrrha and even getting Ren's attention.

"Wait a second, this quarrel you and Yang are having stems from your… transfer situation at Beacon?" Ren questioned, getting a nod in response from Joseph. "I see… then it's no wonder you're being more adamant about this than you usually are."

"Hey, what the hell is that last part supposed to mean, huh?" Joseph demanded, sounding very clearly irritated at what he perceived as a jab towards him.

"Wait, so you're a transfer student too, JoJo? Cool! You from Vacuo or Mistral? I mean, you don't really strike me as an Atlas-type like Ice Queen does, so I'm just gonna assume you aren't, and I'd normally assume you're from Vacuo with your tan and build and all, but all your different threads really give me a Mistral vibe so…." As Sun continued with his excitable rambling, Joseph had to bite back his tongue from laughing at his Atlas remark. If only he knew.

"Funny you should mention that, Sunny D. I actually _am_ from Atlas! And you couldn't tell? I thought it was obvious just from looking at me!" Joseph proclaimed jokingly, having managed to get a word in through Sun's words.

"Wait, really? Wow! Seriously wouldn't have figured when you hear about how stuffy the people from Atlas are." Sun noted in clear surprise.

"Yeah, I wouldn't blame you there man. Anyway, I'm kinda dealing with some family issues back home, so I was kinda sent here to… well… study overseas. Point is, after I graduate from this dump, I wanna head back home first chance I get, but Yang thinks I'm better off here. I told her what she was saying was complete _bullshit,_ and she went all pissy and batty the moment she heard me say that. Not that I friggin' care. The thought of her suggesting something like that still pisses me off…"

To the two members of Team SSSN, this all sounded completely believable and reasonable. However, thanks to being privy to Joseph's… origins, Team JNPR was able to understand the hidden meaning behind Joseph's words and how they related to his situation with Yang.

"Oh, you poor soul. Stuck in the stagnant aftermath of a bad argument…" Nora said with sympathy, reaching across the table and ruffling up the brunette's hair in what she assumed was a comforting gesture. When Joseph smacked her hand away with an irritated grunt, she merely continued to talk like nothing happened. "That's the spirit! Don't let that fire in your eyes wear out! The moment that happens, things will only get worse, Yang will continue to hold you in contempt, you'll go through the rest of your time at Beacon with nothing but anxiety and self-loathing and you'll also have to continue on with your time here knowing you irreparably damaged a friendship and somebody's probably out there looking to kill you and you have no way of knowing how you got here or how to get home and you're pretty much an orphan like Ren and me and oh god you poor thing why has fate dealt you such a cruel hand!?"

The more Nora continued with her tirade, the bleaker and bleaker her points got, with the slowly morphing look of despair on her face being a testament this. By the time she was finished, the usually hyper girl was now face-down on the table and sobbing miserably. Joseph honestly couldn't tell if she was acting or not, nor if her speech was even supposed to cheer him up at this point.

"Why does every word that comes out of your mouth piss me off to no end?" Joseph groaned, flicking the side of the slumped over Nora's head in irritation. She didn't say anything in response, instead letting out a few more miserable sobs.

"Sooo… all that depressing business aside, what brings you here pal?" Sun began, trying to divert the attention from this bleak subject as best he could.

"Eh, I'm supposed to meet up with someone in… any of you got the time?" Joseph said, a slightly thoughtful look on his face.

"Right now, it's… 1:00 PM." Neptune answered, checking his watch.

"Yeah, an hour from now, give or take. Anyway, figured I might as well wait for him in here where it's nice and comfy before we meet up and talk business."

"Who are you supposed to be meeting with?" Pyrrha asked, curious.

"Speedwagon of course! He said he was gonna do everything he could to help me out! Once we meet up, we're gonna try and find out where to even start on how I'm gonna get the hell outta here." Joseph answered with complete nonchalance, ignoring the looks of alarm on Jaune, Ren, and Pyrrha's faces and the look of surprise on Sun and Neptune's. Nora would've joined in too, but she was still busy sulking face-down on the desk.

"Wait, by Speedwagon, do you mean the same Speedwagon that has a monopoly on processed metals all over Remnant?" Neptune piped up, eyes going slightly wide. As the astounded intellectual and his (also surprised) partner awaited an answer, Team JNPR's leader and their ace silently implored the oblvious Joestar to say something. Nora was still sulking miserably while Ren was watching the proceedings with a guarded curiosity, admittedly curious as to how the trickster of the Joestar family would jive talk his way out of this. Joseph, on the other hand, needed another minute before he understood the implications of the looks Jaune and Pyrrha were giving him.

"Oh! Uh… yeah, the very same, goggle pal. He and my family kinda go way back…" Joseph answered after shaking off a moment's surprise. He was so caught up in the matters at hand that he momentarily forgot that he was in the company of two people that weren't privy to his situation on Remnant. _'They both seem like a pair of stand-up fellas, but I haven't really gotten to know them too long. I'll give it a couple of weeks and see if I can trust them to keep a secret like this...'_

These calm and calculated thoughts that were going through Joseph's head contrasted greatly with the incredibly shocked looks on Mistral duo's faces.

"So… is it me, or is Beacon filled to the brim with either famous people or people that _know_ famous people? I mean, we go an ice-queen heiress, a famous tournament champion ('And breakfast mascot!' Nora piped up briefly before returning to her sulking.) and a dude that happens to be family friends with one of Remnant's biggest corporations. I mean, I'm not the only one noticing a pattern here, right?" Was what Sun had to say after his surprise wore down.

"Well, when you put it like that, seems like this academy is some kinda magnet for attracting noteworthy people." Joseph remarked.

"Come now, I'm certain you're just reading too deeply into things, JoJo." Pyrrha rebutted.

"Am I though? Ir's like Sunny said. In this year alone, this academy of weirdos has managed to attract a world-famous athlete, a global megacorporation heiress, a prodigy that managed to get in here on skill alone, a terrorist-turned-freedom fighter, and an amazing badass like yours truly!" Joseph exclaimed with his usual bombast, pointing towards himself as he finished. "And that's just this year. I wouldn't be surprised if the last generations of guys that came to this place was some blonde-ninja jackass, or some kinda badass, cocky martial artist that turns into a girl if you douse em' with cold water, or maybe even a-!"

"Okay! We get the point Joseph!" Ren exclaimed irritably before he could continue with his tirade.

Honestly, where did he even come up with some of this crap?

"Really like tootin' your own horn, don't ya JoJo?" Sun remarked with a chuckle, an amused expression on his face.

"Course I do! If anyone's deserving of praise, it's me for all the crap I've endured." Joseph claimed proudly before pulling something out from underneath his scarf... _somehow._ It was a flask used to store warm drinks, like coffee. "Welp! It's been fun and all, but I think it's about time I speed up the waiting process here." The muscular brunette explained before chugging down some of the flask's contents.

"Is that…?" Sun began, looking at the violet liquid curiously. Joseph could only let out a groan of distaste before he addressed the free-spirited faunus.

"Passion fruit tea? Yup. It tastes like stinkin' vomit, but once I drink some, I'm out like a light." Joseph explained before holding out the container towards Sun. "Want some?"

Sun looked at the thermos and it's lid for a moment before taking the thermos' cap and pouring himself a cup. "Alright, I'm down!"

With nothing more to be said, the monkey faunus downed the beverage in one swift gulp, enjoying the bulby sweet tange it left going down.

"Man, I don't know what you're talking about JoJo, this tastes pretty good if you ask me!" Sun sighed out happily, only to get a few light snores in response.

"He's… already asleep." Neptune pointed out helpfully. True to his word, the muscular Joestar was now sitting with his face planted on the table, not unlike Nora, who had cried herself back to sleep.

"...You guys are awesome to hang around, you all know that, right?" Was all Sun had to say in response, barely suppressing his need to laugh.

"That's very sweet of you to say, thank you Sun." Pyrrha said, a flattered blush on her face. Jaune was feeling much of the same, scratching his cheek bashfully with a smile after being complimented.

"It's loud, that much is a certainty." Ren, on the other hand, just felt exasperated with how the library refused to quiet down.

"Mmm… who… ***YAAAWN…*** would've thought adding lightning dust to pancakes was so… tasty…" Nora was still sleeping. So no surprise there.

* * *

 **(Some time later.)**

"Mrgh… Fuckin'... piece a'shit loin-cloth flauntin' bastard…" Joseph murmured to himself, his consciousness slowly returning to him after what was presumably an hour of sleeping on an uncomfortable wooden chair and table.

' _What time is it again…?'_ However, once he slowly became aware of his surroundings once more, the trickster of the Joestar family realized he had no idea of how long he slept for. Rubbing his sore forehead with irritation, Joseph pulled out his scroll and after a little bit of fiddling, checked it's built-in clock.

"Okay then, lessee here, it is now… 2:10!? AH SHIT! I overslept!" Joseph exclaimed in shock upon realizing the time. "Would it have killed any of you chucklefucks tooo…"

The rest of the Joestar's angry accusation died in his mouth when he realized he was the only person present at the wooden desks, the rest of Team JNPR as well as Sun and Neptune having left while he was sleeping.

"...Sure, just leave without even saying bye. The fucking nerve of some people!" Joseph grumbled to himself, conveniently ignoring that he deliberately knocked himself out so he wouldn't have to talk to anyone. And with that disgruntled remark, the trickster of the Joestar family quickly got out of his seat and made his way towards the exit, hoping he hadn't been keeping Speedwagon waiting too long.

* * *

When he made it to the library's entrance, Joseph was already assuming the worst when he saw that nobody was there.

"Ahhh geeze! Don't tell me he left when I didn't show! Just my stinkin' luck!" Joseph groaned aloud, pulling out his scroll and beginning to dial up Speedwagon. Hopefully, the dapper CEO wasn't too steamed about being kept waiting. Normally, the trickster of the Joestar family was never too concerned about punctuality, but he always made sure to make an exception to this lax policy when it came to family.

Joseph hadn't said it out loud, or even really acknowledged it on a conscious level, but ever since he met this alternate version of his godfather (Or… the grandson of the alternate version of his godfather. Quite frankly, Joseph still wasn't sure what to make of that whole issue.) and got a decent understanding of what his whole deal was, the Joestar immediately ended up taking a liking to him, thanks in no small part to a near-identical personality to his godfather's, and as such, couldn't regard in his usual brash tone. A privilege that currently only granny Erina, his own Speedwagon, Smokey, and coach Lisa Lisa earned.

If Joseph was aware of how he regarded this version of Speedwagon, then he would've outright admitted that it was kind of pathetic, immediately considering this alternate version of someone he knew so well family, but at the same time, it just made him feel a bit better. Gave him something familiar to cling to in what was literally an unfamiliar and foreign world.

"Ah, Mr. Joestar! There you are!" However, just as Joseph was about to the call button, the very person he was trying to contact suddenly called out to him, sounding as boisterous and affable as ever.

"Oh, there you are Speedwagon. For a minute there, I thought you got tired of waiting for me." Joseph greeted. As he looked towards the dapper gentleman walking towards him, Joseph couldn't help but notice the figure that was lagging slightly behind him. Judging by his imposing stature and the sterile, white, and tidy uniform that he wore, it was safe to assume that this man wasn't one of Beacon's teachers, or anything along those lines. The muscular Joestar couldn't shake the feeling that he'd seen this man before, but right now, his mind was currently drawing blanks.

"Not in the slightest, Joseph! I merely got a surprise visit from an old friend of mine and we were doing a bit of catching up! In fact, I was hoping to introduce you to him." Speedwagon explained, gesturing towards the white-clad figure behind him.

' _Wait a sec, isn't that…?'_ Once Joseph got a clear look at the man's full figure and his wrinkled, stern face that featured a small strip on silver metal on his right brow, he slowly began to realize who he was.

"James, I'd like to take this chance to introduce you to Joseph Joestar. Joseph, this is General James Ironwood. He's a well-known political figure in Atlas's government. Perhaps you've heard of him?" Speedwagon continued, unknowingly answering the Joestar's question.

"You kiddin' me? Of course I've heard of the guy! He's only on every hologram downtown talking about how great robots are!"

"Well I'm happy to hear my reputation precedes me." Ironwood piped up at last, chuckling slightly at Joseph's words. "In any case, Joseph, was it? It's a pleasure to meet you in person."

"Oh? You're saying you've heard of me before this little meeting? Has Speedwagon been gushing about me while he's talked to you? Or do you know the lovely Ms. Goodwitch? Has she been going off about the burning passion I light up her heart from just being in her presence?" Joseph remarked cheekily, giving the general's left hand a firm shake.

"I… Uh, no. I actually happen to be aware of your... 'situation' here on Remnant..." Was what James managed to say once the shock of Joseph's statement wore down, making sure no one was listening in when he said that last part.

"What!? Speedwagon! When I found heard you were talking about me, I didn't think you'd tell him about _this!_ What the hell, man!?" Joseph cried indignantly, looking toward the blonde CEO and demanding an explanation.

"JoJo, please don't get the wrong impression! James is a very close associate of mine and Ozpin's! I assure you he's someone you can trust!" Speedwagon assured hastily, putting his hands up in surrender. Joseph's scrutinizing gaze remained on him for another moment before shrugging his shoulders.

"Really? Well… I guess I'll just take your word for it." The Joestar conceded before looking towards the Atleasian general with a curious look in his eyes. "So Ironwood, what part of my whole 'case' caught your attention the most? Was it me being sent flying into space? Or was it the fact that I punch people with UV rays?" With the broad grin on his face and the playfulness of his tone, it was clear to see that Joseph was asking all these questions mainly to get a rise out of the stuffy general.

"While I won't deny what you just mentioned was certainly… attention grabbing, my interest was actually piqued when I found out about your _**「**_ _ **stand**_ _ **」**_ and it's abilities." James chuckled, a bead of sweat running down his face as he recalled some of the more absurd parts of Joseph's backstory. "Not only does it seem to posses a wide array of tactical appliances, but… it's always been a matter that's intrigued me, even before I heard about you."

"Whaaat? You're telling me that outta all the things you heard about me, you think these lame vines I got growin' out of me were the most interesting?" Joseph said indignantly, letting his stand's glowing vines sprout out of his hand and willing them to hang limply from it just to accentuate his point. "C'mon, where's your sense of awe, general? My hamon and exploits are waaaay more interesting than my _**「**_ _ **Hermit Purple!**_ _ **」**_ And whaddaya mean by all it's 'tactical appliances?'"

"I just feel that such a unique and versatile power like stands should be looked into more by all the kingdoms' governments. Depending on what their powers are, they could benefit Remnant greatly." Ironwood explained. With the way he was talking about them, Joseph could only wonder if the general had any interactions with stands and stand users before this meeting with him.

"Hmm. When you put it like that, it actually sounds kinda ingenious..." Joseph remarked, seeing the potential in the good stands could do in the right hands. He could only imagine just how amazing _**「**_ _ **Heaven's Door's**_ _ **」**_ power would be if it's user wasn't someone as… _eccentric_ as Rohan. In fact, now that he thought about it, the brunette could definitely see the tactical advantage **Hermit Purple's** psychic powers gave him. He'd probably be set for life if he ever decided to become some kind of tactician for hire. "So how'd you even get so interested in stands anyway, general?"

"That would be thanks to Robert. His company is located in Atlas, and due to the importance of processed metals here on Remnant, his company and the Atleasian government have had several business transactions in the past. As you can imagine, we've interacted quite a bit in the past because of it." The aged general explained to the young man, gaze drifting towards Speedwagon as he continued. "Additionally, since I'm a high-ranking member of Atlas's military, the true purpose of Robert's corporation was eventually revealed to me. You can only imagine my shock when I learned of the creatures his field operatives combat."

"You people keep acting shocked by stuff like this, but should you really now? I mean, are vampires and stand users really all that crazy when compared to the usual crap people like hunters deal with on a daily basis around here?" Joseph questioned, a sweatdrop running down his forehead at the repeated sight of people being shocked by the idea of vampires in a batshit crazy world like this.

"Well Mr. Joestar, I'm not exactly sure how people react to such things in your world, but I think it's safe to assume most people would be shocked at fables such as vampires truly existing, regardless of how extraordinary Remnant appears to you."

"Yeah, I keep telling myself that and all, but whenever I see it first-hand, I can't help but be a bit disappointed by how low everyone's suspension of disbelief is around here."

"I mean, come on! In a fantastical world like this, people should have a bigger sense of adventure! They shouldn't be surprised by petty little things like a coupla' stinking vampires!

"When you put it like that, it's easy to make any matter sound trivial." Was all Ironwood could say in response, unable to agree with what Joseph was saying.

"I wouldn't know about _that,_ James. These are strange times we live in after all, and Remnant is a big, colorful world. Perhaps Joseph is right in that the people's suspension of disbelief these days is rather low." Speedwagon pointed out, a small smile on his face.

"Robert, dealing with matters like these is your job. You have a bit of a bias in this conversation." Was Ironwood's deadpan response.

"Let me tell you though, Ironwood, I like the cut of your jib! You remind me of an old pal of mine who was a real passionate military man." Joseph admitted boisterously, which caused a slightly flattered smile to creep onto the stiff military general's face.

"I _have_ put quite a lot into my career in Atlas's military, so I think I understand what you mean." James remarked, thinking about his long career in Atlas's military.

"Yeah, and my old pal was willing to give life and limb for the same reasons, but not in that order." Joseph added, a thin smile on his face as he suppressed a morbid chuckle.

"Well, you'll have to tell more more at a later date. In any case, I'm certain you and Robert have many things you need to discuss, so I'll leave the both of you to it." As Ironwood said this, however, he extended his right hand for Joseph to shake. "But I must say, it was quite the pleasure talking to you Joseph. I sincerely hope that you'll be able to accomplish your goal of returning home."

"Heh heh, yeah! You and me both, old man!" Joseph laughed before grabbing onto Ironwood's extended hand and giving it a firm shake. However, his cheerful expression was replaced with one of shock and surprise when he felt just how _cold_ the Atleasian's general hand was. Even when James let go, Joseph found himself looking down at his open palm with clear surprise, much to the two mens' confusion.

' _W...What a strange sensation! One half of this guy's body felt completely warm and natural, like any normal human… but the other half… it felt like I put my hands on some metal in the middle of a snowstorm!'_

"Mr. Joestar, are you alright? You seem to be bothered by something. Is something wrong?" Ironwood piped up when he noticed the surprised expression on Joseph's face, his tone merely curious rather than suspicious or accusatory. The trickster looked shocked at being addressed by the general for a moment, but quickly spoke up when he realized he was still awaiting an answer.

U-Uh! Nothing! It's just that my muscles are all stiff from working out and junk is all." Joseph rattled off, trying to sound as nonchalant as much as possible. The general raised a brow at the strange wording of his sentence, but didn't press the issue, giving Robert a nod and a wave before walking away.

"Huh! Even though he looks like a total rule-toutin' stiff, he's not bad at all! A little too stuffy for my tastes, but still!" Joseph huffed out, a slightly impressed smile on his face. The trickster had to admit, he was a little skeptical of Ironwood's character initially, thanks in no small part to what Penny revealed to him in tandem with his pristine, orderly, demeanor, but from what their conversation revealed, the Atleasian general seemed like a pretty decent sort! "Say, how'd you even end up acquainted with him, anyway Speedwagon?"

"Well, like you heard from James, regardless of it's true purpose, the Speedwagon Foundation's public front is still that of a metal processing and distributing company, and it still has to act the part. Considering just how important processed and refined metals are for Remnant's various aspects of civilization, my family's company gets quite a bit of customers world-wide. And, since the headquarters back home are situated in Atlas, James and I happen to do business quite often, more so than any other client I get." Speedwagon explained, a proud smile on his face as he straightened out his suit's lapels.

" **GOD DAMN!** Judging by all those robots they love flaunting around and all that fancy armor they wear, I'm guessing he's a bit of a regular buyer, huh?" Joseph whistled. From what he was hearing, it appeared that this Speedwagon's company pioneered and led the metal processing business in Remnant. It was probably the first of it's kind when one considers that Speedwagon the 1st likely founded the company soon after Remnant Jonathan's death.

"That he is. In fact, the public front of my family's company gets plenty of buyers from all over Remnant, which certainly helps keep the paranormal front well-supplied." He explained, giving Joseph a decent understanding of the inner workings of his company. "However, let's not delay this any further. I think it's time we do what we can to unravel the bizarre circumstances that brought you here."

"Damn straight! It's about damn time we work on figuring this out!" Joseph agreed, already getting fired up.

"I can imagine Joseph. Come. There's an office in the academy's lecture building we can use to continue this conversation." The blonde man suggested, imploring that Joseph follow him with a wave of his arm.

"Alrighty then! Off we go!" However, despite Joseph's merry demeanor, as he and Speedwagon continued on their way, he couldn't help but think back to the strange sensation he felt when he touched general Ironwood's right hand. Just like he thought before, the sensation he felt when he made contact with the man's hand was completely cold, like he touched a piece of metal that had been out in a snowstorm. As he lingered on that concept for a moment, the back of Joseph's neck began to prick up, realization slowly dawning on him.

' _Wait a sec… His hand was completely lifeless… Atlas has the same government that created Penny… and this world's tech is leagues beyond anything my world has seen, and my world had..._ _ **cyborgs!**_ _Holy shit…!'_ Joseph thought, eyes widening as he pieced everything together.

For a brief moment, the muscular brunette began to slow down as he contemplated what exactly he should do with this information. However, just as soon as that thought came, it left him, and he speeded up to keep up with Speedwagon's walking pace. As staggering as this information was to the public, it wasn't like Ironwood was some ghastly villain trying to impose an oppressive military-state on this entire world. As far as he could tell, Ironwood was just some military man that must've went through some nasty shit in the past, probably not unlike what Von Stroheim endured when Santana invaded his body. With all that in mind, Joseph just decided he would keep what he learned in mind. Nothing more, nothing less.

' _Guess that guy has more in common with Von Stroheim than I thought…'_

* * *

"Perfect! This room should work just fine!" Speedwagon observed, giving the barren office a quick look over before taking a seat. It was clear to see that this room was one of those vacant offices left to gather dust when the school's facility was at a minimum.

"Well, I mean any old room with nobody in it would've worked perfectly, but yeah, I see where you're coming from there." Joseph noted as he sat down, his tone casual. "Anyway, I say we get right down to the bedrock here, eh?"

"I couldn't agree more, Mr. Joestar." Speedwagon agreed with a nod of his head.

"Glad we're on the same page. Now… we're trying to figure out just how I can get outta here and back to my own world. Something that's much easier said than done, all things considered." Joseph began, an expression of deep thought on his face.

"That's correct. In this case, I'd say our best option in getting you back home would be to figure out why and how you ended up in Remnant in the first place. If we can figure that out, then we'll have a lead, and by extension, somewhere to start looking. Do you have any idea as to how this could've happened, Joseph?" Speedwagon asked, bringing up the million dollar question Joseph had ever since he woke up in that run-down back alley: How the hell did he end up here?

"The 'how' and 'why' isn't clear at all to me, but we might be able to figure something out if I explained in detail everything I remember before I got sent here. Maybe something will come to me, or I'll get another flash of brilliant inspiration." Joseph said after a moment's thought.

"Very well, that seems like the best course of action." Speedwagon agreed, before a truly interested light shone in his eyes. "And I must admit, the prospect of learning more about the various parts of _**another world**_ is quite exciting!"

And so, for the second time this week, Joseph relayed the tale of how he ended up on Remnant to Speedwagon. Although it was worth noting that he limited his explanation to everything that transpired after Kars became the Ultimate Lifeform. They didn't have all day to talk, so Joseph merely gave an abridged explanation to everything before that. Of course, considering he was essentially family… or an alternate version of family in this case, Joseph did answer any questions Speedwagon had about Earth and it's culture.

"Incredible! Simply incredible! To think that in your world, your equivalent to the stone dagger was created by an advanced race of what could only be described as super-vampires! And their powers! The powers of that 'Santana' fellow were extraordinary enough as is, but his superiors used this stone mask to grant them even more body-defying powers!? It's unthinkable!" Speedwagon exclaimed once Joseph finished his explanation, although his amazed expression soon faded into one of worry once the implications of what he heard dawned on him. "...As well as quite concerning. I shudder to think that there might be an enclave of Pillar Men hiding somewhere in Remnant, just waiting for the right time to awaken."

"W-What!? You think there might be some Pillar Men hiding here too!?" Joseph asked, the mere possibility of what Speedwagon was saying being true sending him into a cold sweat. Every battle against the pillar men was an experience that constantly left Joseph clinging to his life by the skin of his teeth. He shuddered to think that one false move against Santana or Esidisi or really any of them was all it would've taken to spell the end of his life.

"Unfortunately, yes. You mentioned that your world's version of me first became aware of the existence of these superhuman fiends when he happened across one of their members within an ancient ruin, correct?"

"Yeah, that sounds about right." Joseph nodded, recounting what his own Speedwagon told him after he rescued him.

"And you also said these chambers had these stone masks plastered all over the walls, is this also true?" Speedwagon continued, his grim tone doing nothing to ease Joseph's worries.

"W...What are you trying to say here, Speedwagon?" The hamon trickster finally asked, dreading the answer he would get.

"What I mean to say is that my organization has happened across several chambers within caves and ancient ruins scattered all over Remnant that fit this chamber's description to a tee! The only thing that was missing was a stone humanoid embedded into a pillar… and after what you've just told me, I'm not sure whether that's a blessing, or an omen of worse things to come..." The dapper man explained to Joseph, a serious, thoughtful look on his face.

"So… what you're saying is that you and your men have found more chambers like the one Santana was in, but not a single one of them had any trace of someone being in there for god knows how long…?" Joseph reiterated slowly, eyes widening as the weight of what he just said truly dawned on him. "Yeesh! You're right, that IS scary! I'm gonna have to make sure to find out what the hell happened to them before I can get home!" Joseph wouldn't deny he wanted to get home as soon as possible, but with this possibility of 'Remnant Pillar Men' now hanging over his head, he couldn't exactly leave well enough alone. He'd have to make sure he confirmed whether they were dead or just hiding, and if came to the latter, find them and snuff them out with his hamon before they could try and pull anything. After everything that happened with Kars, he wouldn't be able to leave Remnant with a clear conscience knowing there might be someone just like him hiding away in this world somewhere. Regardless of whether he found a way home by then, he'd have to make sure to settle accounts with this Pillar Men problem.

Speedwagon looked surprised by Joseph proclamation before closing his eyes and letting out a few muted chuckles. When he opened his eyes, Joseph could see a mixture of gratitude and relief in them. "Well, it'll certainly be reassuring to have a man who literally _breathes_ a vampire's only weakness assisting us with this endeavor. However, my corporation hasn't found any real lead regarding where these Pillar Men might be hiding or the origins of Remnant's equivalent to the stone masks. The only thing we know for a fact right now was that they were likely created before mankind began to utilize dust on Remnant. With that in mind, let's stay focused on more current matters, shall we?"

"No complaints here, I'll probably sleep easier at night if I actually have something to work towards, especially now that I have the idea of 'Remnant Pillar Men' bouncing around inside my head." Joseph replied easily, putting his hands behind his head.

"That's good, but… where exactly do we go from here…?" Speedwagon asked, a thoughtful expression on his face as he put his hand up to his chin.

"No idea, and it pisses me off to no end! There's really nothing to work with here and it's so goddamn frustrating." Joseph said, his expression mirroring Speedwagon's, albeit with much more irritation and frustration. After another moment of thoughtful contemplation, a thought suddenly made it's way into Speedwagon's head.

"Well, there is one thing that I've thought of, but I'm not sure if it will shed much light on this matter."

"At least it's something. Whaddaya got in mind?"

"Well, perhaps what you had on your person when you awoke in Remnant might be a clue. Tell me Joseph, what do you remember having in your possession when you woke up in Vale? Anything important?" Speedwagon questioned, causing Joseph to rack his brain for anything significant. After a brief moment, Joseph's eyes widened in realization before he reached for something underneath his scarf.

"Now that you mention it… aside from the clothes on my back, I was actually clutching onto this beauty like my life depended on it when I first woke up!" Judging by the shocked expression on Speedwagon's face the moment he laid eyes on the _**「**_ _ **Super Aja**_ _ **」**_ in his necklace, Joseph figured that they finally found their lead.

"I… I don't believe it!" The fair- haired CEO breathed out, looking in awe at the brilliant red gemstone within the dangling necklace. "I must've been far too engrossed in what you were telling me at the time to really notice, but… this is a **red stone of aja!** You're saying that nefarious Pillar Man used this stone to achieve immortality!?" He asked incredulously, throwing Joseph for a curveball.

"wait a minute, WHAT!? You're saying you've heard of these things before I came along!? HOW!?" Joseph exclaimed, all too shocked by what he just heard. He thought these things were supposed to be super-rare! And that wasn't even touching upon the fact that this gem was a misplaced object in this world, just like he was!

"If I had to guess, then I can only assume that the red stones are something that both our worlds have, like gold and silver, or trees and fruit, or even…" Speedwagon trailed off before his eyes lit up in realization. "Joestars and vampires for a more relevant comparison."

"I… I see. When you put it like that, I guess this world apparently having red stones of aja too isn't that far fetched…" Joseph muttered out, disbelief still clear in his voice.

"Yes… I have my doubts that Kars hamon specifically was what sent you to Remnant, but there's hardly any doubt in my mind now that this gemstone was instrumental to sending you to this word! In fact…" Speedwagon continued, his gaze falling upon Joseph's left forearm. "You mentioned that you left arm had been cut off by Kars before that eruption correct? And that you woke up in Remnant, it was though

"Y...Yeah. Are you saying the red stone had something to do with that too?" Joseph asked hesitantly.

"It's certainly not an impossibility. After all, you said yourself that hamon can heal wounds at a supernatural rate. Perhaps the charge left from Kars hamon was enough to somehow _**regrow**_ your arm! His hamon was thousands of times more potent than your own, so a miraculous recovery like that isn't out of the question."

"HOLY SHIT! You're probably completely right! It just makes so much sense when you put it like that." Joseph exclaimed in shock, Speedwagon's words making an amazing amount of sense. The man in question only closed his eyes for a moment, a satisfied expression on his face before continuing.

"Well then, before anything else, I suppose the first thing we should focus on is to review what we know so far."

 **FACT #1: JOSEPH JOESTAR WAS LIKELY TAKEN TO REMNANT VIA SOME KIND OF TELEPORTATION.**

 **FACT #2: THIS PHENOMENA HAPPENED WHEN JOSEPH WAS RE-ENTERING THE PLANET'S ATMOSPHERE.**

 **FACT #3: EVERYTHING JOSEPH HAD ON HIS PERSON WAS INCLUDED DURING THE TRANSFER TO REMNANT.**

 **FACT #4: THE SUPER AJA THAT WAS INSTRUMENTAL IN KARS' DEFEAT IS IN SOME WAY LINKED TO JOSEPH'S APPEARANCE ON REMNANT.**

 **FACT #4: RED STONES OF AJA CAN BE FOUND NATURALLY ON BOTH REMNANT AND EARTH.**

 **FACT #6: JOSEPH'S LEFT FOREARM, WHICH HAD BEEN PREVIOUSLY SEVERED DURING THE BATTLE WITH KARS, WAS FOUND RE-ATTACHED TO HIS ARM WHEN HE WOKE UP. IT IS SPECULATED THAT THE LEFTOVER HAMON IN THE SUPER AJA SOMEHOW MANAGED TO HEAL JOSEPH'S BODY TO A SUPERHUMAN DEGREE. (1)**

"Right… so those are all facts, but what's our main theory here? How exactly did I get here and what did the red stone have to do with it?"

"With just how implausible you ending up here is, and how it just defies all forms of common sense and reality, I can only assume that another _**「**_ _ **stand user**_ _ **」**_ orchestrated your arrival here, but for what reason, I don't know."

"A-Another stand user did this? Are you sure about this whole theory, Speedwagon?" Joseph asked, eyes widening.

"No, I'm not, but it's the only idea that makes any form of sense. Stand abilities are far more potent and unique than semblances. Most stands allow their users to do something that defies all forms of reality and common sense." The blonde man explained, a calm tone in his voice. Despite claiming that he wasn't certain of his own theory, he sounded quite sure of himself as he spoke. "After all, what exactly is your stand's power? Isn't it something that wouldn't ever be possible under normal circumstances?"

"It… it allows me to spy on people from afar and get a good grip on my surroundings…" Joseph answered slowly.

"And you mentioned that Rohan fellow's stand allowed him to turn living people into books that he could rewrite and alter at his leisure, correct?" Upon seeing the trickster slowly nod, he continued. "What you need to understand, Joseph, is that stand abilities like yours and Rohan's are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to stands. The only limitation to their powers lies within their users, not the stand themselves. I've seen stand users, what they're capable of first-hand, and let me assure you Joseph, the possibility of one having the power to send you here is by no means a stretch."

"W-Whoa! A part of me wants to ask about what kind of stuff you've seen for you to say all this with such a certain tone of voice, but at the same time, I kinda get the feeling what I hear would scar me for life..." Joseph said, slightly shocked by the dead-serious tone in Remnant Speedwagon's voice. However, his expression soon turned to a thoughtful one as he took in everything the blonde man told him. "Anyway, until something more concrete comes up and since you're so sure of it, I guess we should settle on the idea that there's a stand user hiding somewhere in this world and that they're the one who brought me here. But uh… any idea _why?_ And for that matter, what the hell can this stand friggin' _do_ if it can somehow manage to drag me here outta nowhere!?" In response to this inquiry, a cool, self-assured smile made it's way onto Speedwagon's face before he spoke up.

"Why Joseph, I would've thought the _why_ of this matter would be obvious by now," The dapper man began, his confident tone reflecting his expression perfectly before standing up and pointing extravagantly towards the room's only other occupant, posing slightly. It kinda made Joseph a little homesick for some reason. "This stand user brought you to this world because you are a member of the Joestar family!"

Upon hearing this, Joseph momentarily found himself at a loss for words. Whoever did this, brought him to this strange word… wanted him because he was a Joestar?

"Y-You really think this freak, wherever they are, brought me here because of my blood ties?" Joseph reiterated, slight disbelief and surprise filling his voice.

"As for the 'how' of the matter… I think I might've deduced just how this mystery stand user of ours brought you here… **and the answer lies with that stone within your necklace!** "

"Wait… HUH!? What the… what the hell are you talking about now!? I'm at a fucking loss here!"

"Think about it for a moment, and take what I said about stands defying reality, making impossibilities easily possible, and you'll understand. And remember what I said earlier. Despite what we've discussed, that stone was still instrumental in bringing you to Remnant." Speedwagon stated, sitting back down and leaving Joseph to ponder what he just told him.

' _O...Okay. This entire time, Speedwagon's been hammering down that the sky's the limit when it comes to stands, but from what I've seen of Rohan's_ _ **Made In Heaven,**_ _they usually got some kinda catch to their abilities, like having to look at his comics to be affected by his stand…'_ The muscular brunette thought with narrowed eyes, reviewing everything he knew about stands as he tried to come to the same conclusion Speedwagon came to. _'This stand seems to have some kinda teleportation power, considering I woke up on a street in Vale when before that, and Speedwagon made it clear that the stone played a big role in… in…!_ **OH MY GOD!"** Joseph suddenly screamed out loud, bringing his hands up to his face in shock.

"I'm going to assume you've pieced everything together, Joseph?" Speedwagon asked simply, unfazed by Joseph's outburst.

"...I think I understand what you're trying to tell me here! _**This stand was able to teleport me to Remnant because I had the red stone of aja on me!**_ " Joseph declared triumphantly, pleased with himself for figuring everything out. "You said it yourself, this world has red stones too, riiight? If that's the case, _**then this guy used a red stone exactly like this one to teleport me here!"**_ The brunette exclaimed, palming the perfect gemstone in his hands.

"Exactly! That stone you carry and your family name are two concrete constants that your world and our world both possess, Joseph! This person's stand, whatever it may do, _**needed something that both our worlds have in common**_ to bring you here, and since the Joestar bloodline of Remnant was eradicated over a hundred years ago, then this person must have, or at least came into contact with a perfect red stone like yours and somehow used it to bring you here!" Speedwagon exclaimed. With the way it was all worded, it honestly felt completely plausible. More than that, it felt like this was the only logical explanation for how Joseph ended up in the alien world.

"As for why they targeted you specifically, I'm afraid we have little to nothing to go on. We can only assume that this stand user has a goal in mind that they needed a member of the Joestar family to accomplish…"

"Man… we're putting so much faith and thought into this whole 'stand user' theory and we don't even know if it's even true. Kind of reminds me of that trick detectives use to catch serial killers… what was is again?…-! Profiling! That's it! Criminal profiling!" Joseph groaned, looking to the side with his palm on his chin.

"If you know about profiling, then you'd also realize you have nothing to worry about, Mr. Joestar. A major factor in in that investigative tool is that it focuses on finding similarities and patterns in past offenses to identify current ones. What I did here was no different. I wouldn't have made such a claim if the bizarre circumstances that brought you here didn't match the capabilities and powers of stands. I'm a certain that a stand is what brought you here, trust me." The confidence and decisiveness in his tone reminded Joseph of his old Speedwagon. Hell, if his voice was a bit raspier and he wasn't looking right at him, then he probably would've thought his uncle was right there in the room with him. That thought provided Joseph with a strange sense of comfort before pushing it away.

"Alright alright, I believe you…" Joseph assured the man before his expression took on a more thoughtful look. "So now what? We apparently know what brought me here, so where do we go from there?"

"Here's what I have in mind. I'll have one of my experts try to locate where the red stones can commonly be unearthed on Remnant. In addition to this, I'll have an agent of the Speedwagon Corporation's paranormal division scout out where the Joestar manor of Remnant used to be located. It's unlikely, but there is the possibility that some clues can be found there."

"And what exactly am I supposed to do during all this? Am I gonna be going with any of your guys to go search for some clues? Or maybe something will happen if I go see the mansion wreckage myself!" Joseph asked quickly, a broad grin on his face and adrenaline coursing through his veins. Finally! After so long, it finally felt like he was getting somewhere in finding out just how in the hell he ended up here! He couldn't wait to start searching for some answers to this mystery himself!

"Well, I have plenty of assets at my disposal, and I would hate to keep you from your studies here at Beacon, so until something important comes up, I suggest that you simply continue your studies here at Beacon." Speedwagon answered with what he thought was a reasonable idea, only to notice Joseph visibly deflate upon hearing this answer.

"Uh… is there a problem with that plan, Joseph?" Speedwagon asked slowly.

"Damn right there is! I'm sick of sitting around at this academy with both my thumbs shoved up my ass waiting for something to happen! I don't wanna be sitting around here when we finally got an idea of what to do! C'mon Speedwagon, why don't you let me go with one of your guys to one of these gem hotspots or old wreckages!? Your employees would only benefit from having a dashing badass like me watching their backs!" As Joseph demanded that Speedwagon reconsider letting him head to these locations, the blonde man was taken by surprise when he noticed the surprisingly desperate tone in his voice.

' _That tone in his voice… and his expression… He must truly be eager to get back to his home… But… we have to assume that whoever brought him to Remnant is actively hunting him down, for purposes I can only assume aren't in his best interests. And that's not even going into the fact that of how discouraging it would be to actually let him go only to find nothing… No, for the time being, it's likely best if Joseph remains here and in Vale. But… how exactly should I break it to him…?'_

After an uncomfortable moment of silence, made only worse by Joseph's expectant gaze boring into him, Speedwagon finally managed to find the right words to say. "Joseph… while I understand your excitement, I think that for the time being, it's probably best that you remain here at Beacon."

That remark certainly did it. Upon hearing this, all the energy Joseph previously had vanished in an instant. With a disheartened sigh, the muscular hamon user slammed his head down onto the desk, hardly able to muster up the strength to speak.

"Geeze… way to get my hopes up here, Speedwagon. I feel like a dog that just got denied a treat." Was Joseph's eventual reply, his voice muffled by how his head was pressed against the desk.

"Come now, Joseph. Remember that we're only investigating these locations due to some theories that we thought up. There's a high possibility that there'll be nothing that will even help." Speedwagon tried to reassure the brunette, although judging by how he only raised his head to give him a disappointed stare, it seemed that his words weren't doing much good.

"Even if it's pointless tagging along, I'd still feel better investigating these leads we got then just sitting around in this goddamn school for another several goddamn months! I just feel so fucking worthless sitting around here, doing nothing to help myself get back home!" Joseph flared up momentarily, although his disheartened mood returned to him quickly.

That discouraged statement cemented Speedwagon's suspicions. Not only was the lack of progress just flat-out discouraging for Joseph, but spending so much time at Beacon making no real progress in getting back to his home had left him anxious and antsy. It was understandable that he'd jump at the chance to personally improve his chances to return home.

However, Joseph seemed to be getting discouraged for the wrong things! While Speedwagon was admittedly skittish on the idea of having Joseph explore Remnant currently, that was only because of his previously mentioned misgivings. With all that in mind, the dapper man felt that he had to reassure the boisterous Joestar that he had the wrong idea.

"Honestly, you're acting like I plan to just leave you in the dust once we find a concrete lead! Once we finally have something to try and look for and find out who brought you to Remnant, you can accompany my company's agents if you wish."

"...promise?"

Upon hearing this, Speedwagon had to stop himself from laughing. He sounded a child that just got promised ice cream after a bad day.

"Mr. Joestar, you have my word on this. Believe me when I say your help on this field work would be extraordinary, but I just wish to have a man of your many talents focus on something more important than what currently amounts to archeology and mining." Speedwagon smiled, closing his eyes and raising his right hand as he made this vow. It seemed that his words did the trick, for Joseph's words next were tinged with same energy many people had come to know him for.

"Alright! Now we're talking! I seriously can't wait to get outta this stinkin' town and actually see what this crazy world has to offer! And it'll all be towards me getting home too!" Joseph exclaimed, a broad smile on his face.

"I'll notify you the moment some new developments arise. Now then, I think I've kept you from your studies long enough." Speedwagon chuckled.

"Sheesh, you just had to remind me of that, didn't you?" The brunette groaned in irritation, but the energy in his voice was still prominent. However, just as he was about to leave the room, Speedwagon remembered something.

"Oh, and before I forget, Joseph, there is one more thing I'd like to ask you…" In response, Joseph stopped dead in the doorway, looking back to the blonde man with a mullet with a questioning gaze...

* * *

"...Oooh, look at me! My name's Weiss! I know facts! I'm rich! Pfffft~!" Ruby mocked childishly, a playful tone in her voice.

"Don't be a pest." Weiss said to her partner, annoyance clear in her tone.

To put things into perspective, quite a bit had happened for Team RWBY since their little battle in the library. After confronting Blake on her strange behavior, the black-haired faunus revealed that she was far more troubled by Roman Torchwick's affiliation with the White Fang and whatever they have planned then she initially let on. After a bit of debate between the four of them, the all-girl team decided that they would look into whatever the White Fang was planning themselves.

After some time planning it out, the girls had a basic idea of what they should do during their venture into Vale for information: As a former member of the White Fang, Blake knew of a location where the group had faction meetings and recruited new members, and as such, she had plans to get in and try and find out what the White Fang were planning, Yang knew of an associate in the shadier part of Vale that she planned on paying a little visit to for information, and finally, as the Schnee Dust Company's heiress, both Weiss and Ruby were to head to the Cross Continental Transit tower to contact the company for their dust catalogs with the hope that something within them would point them in the right direction. As you can likely tell, the two girls' were currently in the middle of completing their own task. For the most part, everything had been going according to plan… barring Sun and Neptune's sudden intrusion and their desire to aid Team RWBY in their investigation. It was a bit disconcerting to have the two boys suddenly come in out of nowhere and suddenly want to be in on everything, but at the same time, the girls knew that the care-free monkey faunus and his 'intellectual' partner were just looking to help out, so they allowed their intrusion in on their plan without much of a fuss.

From there, the all-girl team (With Sun and Neptune) split up to see what they could gather. Blake had taken Sun with her to the White Fang rally while Yang allowed Neptune to tag along to meet up with her associate, leaving us with the dynamic duo we have now.

"Ahhh Weiss, relax! You need to know how to take a joke!" Ruby laughed at her partner's annoyance, clearly enjoying herself.

"I'm just saying, _you_ were the one who wanted to make a big production of going to the CCT when we just as easily could've made this call from the library." Weiss retorted snippily.

"I know, but it's so coool! Ooh, I'm going to take a picture!" And that new goal in mind, the silver eye girl began to fumble with her scroll as she tried to take a picture of the towering… tower. Of course, being the excitable clutz that she is, Ruby predictably allowed her scroll to slip out of her grasp just as she opened it up.

 ***Fooo…!***

However, just as it was about to hit the floor, a small, green glyph spawned underneath the device and blasted it with a tiny air current, and before Ruby could shake off her slight surprise and try to grab it, a similar glyph proceeded to blast the device into it's creator's pale, petite hand.

"Are you done faffing about yet? Because we're here to gather information, not take pictures and sight-see." Weiss stated with no small amount of annoyance, handing her team's leader her scroll back… but not before accessing it's camera function for her.

"Right, right! I'm sorry, I guess I'm just kinda antsy and excited for tonight is all!" Ruby apologized hastily, too focused on getting a perfect shot of the tower to look towards Weiss.

"Considering how you usually behave, it's a bit hard to see the difference between nervousness and you acting normally, really." Weiss noted snarkily, watching with crossed arms as Ruby took her picture. She gave the skyward shot of the tower a pleased look before looking towards the heiress once more, looking as perky as ever.

"I guess, but can you blame me!? This right here is a monumental day for Team RWBY! It marks the day of our first mission together as a team! Our very first effort to come together and work towards making the world a better place! For all we know, historians that know of our legendary exploits in the far future might make this mission the first chapter in our team's… uh history record… things…"

"First of all, the term you're looking for is 'historiography, and secondly, what? Did that mess at the docks not count in your book?" Weiss asked, her tone sarcastic.

"No it did not, actually. That was a heat of the moment operation spurred forward by emotion! THIS, however, is a tactful and organized strike by what's going to be the greatest team of hunters that'll ever graduate from Beacon!" Ruby corrected, a professional and matter of fact tone in her voice.

"I'm pretty sure we're only doing this because of how much it's bothering Blake." Weiss retorted, raising an eyebrow at her partner's flamboyant behavior.

"Uuuugh! When you put it like that, it just takes all the impact out of it!" Ruby groaned out when she couldn't find a crack in the heiress's argument. "Let's just go in the stupid tower and get what we need."

"Gladly." Despite herself, Weiss couldn't help but let out an amused laugh.

* * *

As the two girls took the long elevator up to the terminals, Ruby decided to voice a few questions that had been on her mind since the plan had been established. "Sooo… how are we gonna go and get these shipment files, anyway? Since you're the heiress, does that mean that you can just call your parents and ask for them?"

It was a simple, innocent question, but it was clear that something Ruby mentioned in her question was a bit of a sore spot with Weiss, because in response, the white-haired heiress couldn't help but flinch, a pained expression flashing across her face for a brief moment before it vanished just as soon as it came.

"Actually Ruby, why don't you just wait in the elevator lobby while I go and contact home?" Weiss suggested, closing her eyes and smiling as she told Ruby this, a forced, pleasant tone in her voice.

"Huh? I mean, sure, but why do you need me there?" Ruby asked after a moment's confusion.

"Simple family concerns. If someone sees you with me while I'm making the broadcast, then getting those files will likely be much harder. They'd likely be much more suspicious as to why I'm asking about private information like this with company." The white-haired heiress answered simply, the strained smile still clear to see on her face.

"Oh, yeah. I guess that makes sense. Sure thing." Upon hearing her confirmation, Weiss's face seemed to relax considerably, although it was still fairly tense-looking.

"Excellent!" As she said this, the elevator doors opened up, revealing a circular room with several couches and open doorways hugging the walls. Through this doorway was an outer, ring-like room, featuring many terminals that allowed for communication across Remnant's four continents. The circular wall of the terminal room was also a gigantic window that provided any callers with an amazing view of the surrounding environment. Weiss looked towards one of these doorways before turning towards Ruby with a smile. "You just stay here and I'll go and get the files we need."

"Yup, you got it partner! I won't even have moved an inch by the time you get back! And when you see it, you'll be like 'whaaaat!? Ruby, you dolt, you didn't move an inch!? Was your dad like a statue or something!?'" Ruby began to rattle off, causing Weiss to raise a brow before responding.

"Just… stay put, please." Was all elegant heiress had to say before walking away. To keep up with the guise of a fool, Ruby continued to ramble pointlessly as her partner began to leave the elevator hall and began to approach one of the many rows of communication monitors.

"Totally not gonna move an inch while you're gone! I mean, 'Ahhh!' would you look at that! I think you used one of your weight glyphs to keep me planted here! That's how still and 'staying here' I'm being, you know! Heh heh… eh..." When it was clear that Weiss was now out of earshot, Ruby ceased her rambling and took a deep, quiet breath before following after her. The silver-eyed girl understood this type of curiosity was the exact same thing that got Joseph so angry with them once the truth about his origins had been revealed, but it just didn't sit right with Ruby to stay here when something was clearly bothering her bestie.

With that in mind, Ruby decided to use her phenomenal and hardly ever used sneaking capabilities to tail after Weiss and see what exactly was bothering her. With deft feet that she never used, mostly due to favoring a 'GUNS BLAZING' approach, the silver-eyed teen quickly and quietly snuck into the communications hall, scanning the surrounding area for a familiar head of white hair.

* * *

' _Just put on a fake smile, demand the files, and end the call. No talking to father. No talking to mother. No talking to_ any _family!'_ Weiss thought as she sat down at a vacant monitor, struggling to keep her smile up as she waited for her call to go through. After another moment of waiting, one of brown-haired woman wearing her family company's uniform appeared on the screen.

Thank you for calling the atlas-Oh! Ms. Schnee! Good afternoon!" The company intern greeted upon realizing who she was talking to. "Would you like me to patch you through to your father? I think your sister Winter might be here as well."

"No thank you. I was actually wondering if you could find some files for me. I've compiled a small list." Weiss denied smoothly, pulling out her scroll and inserting it into the terminal. After a brief moment of beeping and other electronic noises, it seemed that the intern received all the information regarding the white-haired heiress's request, made apparent by the way her brow rose slightly.

"I see… If you don't mind, what may I ask is this for?" The intern asked curiously.

"School project." Weiss answered simply. Unfortunately, judging by the way her expression went from polite and expectant to strained and apprehensive, it was clear that the intern didn't consider this a sufficient answer. "Uhm… there are some sensitive documents on this list, ma'am."

"Well then, I'll be sure treat them with care." Unfortunately for _her_ , Weiss was not going to budge on this matter, and her force behind her words was clear to hear in her pleasant tone.

"Right… very well." There was clear reluctance and apprehension in her tone, but the girl did as she was told and sent the files onto Weiss's scroll. "The data's being transferred onto your scroll now."

"Wonderful, that will be all." Weiss thanked. However, before she could end the call, the intern still had more to say.

"Before you go, ma'am… are you _certain_ you wouldn't like to speak to your father? It wouldn't take more than a minute to patch him through."

"Yes, I'm sure." The heiress denied once more, her tone and pleasant expression becoming more strained once her father was brought up again. The intern didn't seem satisfied with this answer, but still let it go.

"Very well then. Have a nice day." And with nothing more to be said, the screen blinked out, leaving the heiress alone with her thoughts. Once the transmission ended, the somber expression that Weiss had been hiding the entire call made it's way onto her face, reflecting in the black screen.

' _Okay, that's enough of the somber mood…_ ' Weiss thought as she stared back at her reflection on the screen. _'You got everything you needed and you managed to avoid any complications. You did fine. Business went down exactly how you wanted it to. Now, let's just get back to Ruby and we'll-'_

"Uh… Weiss? Is everything alright?" A familiar, young voice spoke up, cutting off the stream of reassurance going through Weiss's head.

"AH! RUBY! I thought I told you to wait in the lobby!" Weiss yelped in shock, whipping to her left and seeing her silver eyed leader giving her a concerned look.

"Yeah, I know that, but… I didn't really want to!" Upon hearing this simple, cheerful reply, the white-haired heiress let out a groan of distaste.

"Of course you didn't. Why did I expect otherwise?" Ruby couldn't help but laugh at her partner's resigned annoyance, but it was all short-lived, as her cheerful expression soon melted into a concerned frown.

"But… that's besides the point. Weiss, you looked really uncomfortable when you were talking to that lady, especially when she mentioned your family. Is… something wrong?"

"I…! It's just that…!" Unable to muster up any kind of excuse of lie, the Schnee heiress could only let out a depressed sigh, her sullen demeanor from before coming back with a vengeance. "I managed to get the dust records, so let's just go."

"Weiss, that didn't answer my question…" Ruby said with a frown. Weiss, however, seemed to be trying to ignore her as she headed towards elevator.

"Weiss?" Ruby called out once more, her voice as well as her concern beginning to rise. Once again, the heiress ignored her as she stepped into the elevator and pressed the button.

"Weiss!" Wasting no time, the silver eyed girl used her semblance to zip through the closing elevator's doors before grabbing onto Weiss's wrists and making her look at her. Surprised, her wide blue eyes met Ruby's silver eyes, which were full of concern and resolve.

"Please! Just tell me what's wrong with you! I know you don't want to talk about it, but you can't honestly expect me to ignore this with the way you're acting." The leader of Team RWBY stated boldly, her tone steeled and resolute. "Please… just tell me what's bothering you. I promise it'll make you feel better..."

Once her momentary surprise at Ruby's bold statement wore down, Weiss closed her eyes before breathing out through her nose, her posture suddenly coming off as much more resigned. "You're not gonna let this go until I give you an explanation, are you?"

"Nope!" Ruby admitted cheerily, a small smile on her face despite the circumstances. In response to this, Weiss herself couldn't help but crack a smile as well before leaning back against the wall of the elevator.

"I figured as much. Fine then, I'll explain it as we go to meet up with the others." The heiress finally conceded. The moment she heard this, Ruby's previously serious demeanor vanished in an instant.

"There we go! I'll have you know that I can be a _**wonderful**_ listener, so I assure you that you've made the right choice right now!" The silver-eyed girl chirped excitedly, causing Weiss to shake her head in slight exasperation, although her smile was still on her face.

' _I swear, she's even worse than Klein.'_ The heiress chided without any real scorn. At this point, quirks like these were honestly starting to become endearing.

* * *

"..."

"..."

.

.

.

"So…"

"..." The white-haired swordswoman said nothing, looking straight ahead as she walked out the now open elevator doors, causing her partner to hastily follow after her.

"Uh… should I be the one to start talking or is that you…?" Ruby continued awkwardly, not really sure where to start. Upon leaving the terminal room, a rather awkward silence had ensued between the two huntresses in training, and it was only accentuated on the elevator trip down, which Weiss could've _sworn_ took longer to go down than up. Weiss knew Ruby was waiting expectantly for her to say something and the heiress truly wanted to answer, but… it's honestly just hard to find a good starting point regarding an issue such as this.

However, as reluctant as she was to talk about this, Weiss wasn't about to put off this issue any longer, especially if it meant more incessant prodding on Ruby's part. And so, upon walking out the doorway of the tower, the girl with icy-blue eyes circled around the gigantic construct until she found herself leaning back against the… well… back of the tower, the silver eyes of a certain girl boring into her with worry.

"I guess I'll start." Weiss finally began, breathing in slightly before looking towards Ruby. "Do you remember what I said the night Blake ran off? About why I hate the White Fang?"

"Yeah, I think so. You said it's because they hate your family, and that having to deal with them all the time left your dad really stressed out, right?" Ruby answered unsurely. Weiss merely nodded her head before continuing.

"That's right, and like I said before, it all led to a _very stressful home life._ " She continued, putting emphasis on the last part.

"Oh… I guess you were making all those weird faces earlier because you didn't really want to call home, huh?" Ruby said in realization, getting a nod from Weiss.

"That's right. Aside from my sister, I'm not exactly on the best of terms with my family. My brother's an insidious little brat, my mother's constantly at the bottom of a glass bottle, and I don't even know where to begin with my father…" The heiress groaned out, disdain already creeping into her voice as she bluntly described each member of her family.

"What's so bad about your father…?" Ruby asked hesitantly, already taken aback by what she was hearing. She initially figured that Weiss's relationship with her father was a bit on the distant side, considering that he's the head of such a big and important company, but she wouldn't have figured for the life of her that things were so bad with the rest of her family.

"He's a control freak, that's what he is." As Weiss said this, irritation and disdain was all too clear in her voice. "If things went his way, then I wouldn't even be here at Beacon with all of you! Just getting the 'right' to attend Beacon was how I ended up with this lovely little blemish on my face." She rattled off irritably, not even looking at Ruby as she ran her fingers over the faint scar on her left eye.

"H...He… he did _THAT_ TO YOU!?" Because of this, the heiress was unable to notice the look of utter horror and anger and her partner's face once the implications of what she said sank in, and as such, she was taken by utter surprise when she suddenly heard the silver-eyed girl scream out in utter fury.

"Ruby! Keep your voice down! We're in a public area!" The heiress demanded once her initial shock wore down. "The last thing I need is you screaming like a maniac over this!"

"I don't care! You're saying your _DAD_ gave you that scar!? That's not how parents are supposed to act! _That's not how it's supposed to be!_ Just…! Why would he do something like that to you!?" The silver eyed girl couldn't be bothered to control her voice, the fury and utter bewilderment she was feeling overshadowed any need for subtly Weiss desired. Just what kind of parent would scar their child!?

"Well, technically speaking, he wasn't the one who did this, although he IS responsible for it." Weiss admitted, much to Ruby's confusion. "Huh? What do you mean by that?"

"He…" The heiress trailed off, letting out a tired sigh before continuing. "He never wanted me to attend Beacon. He would've much rather had me at home under his watch and control. However, I was adamant about going to Vale and going to school at Beacon, so he decided to prepare a 'test' for me."

"A test…?" Ruby parroted, an unsure tone in her voice.

"I was told that if I truly wanted to attend classes at Beacon, then I'd have to 'earn' that right. And so, he arranged it so that I'd have to take down a gigantic suit of armor controlled by some microscopic Grimm." Weiss explained, once again bringing a hand up to the dull scar on her face and running her index finger over the slight bump that marred her otherwise flawless skin.

"During the fight, the suit managed to graze my face, and as you can clearly see, it left a bit of a mark."

"But… you did beat it, right…?" Ruby asked, her tone both unsure and concerned.

"Of course I did! I wasn't going to let some crude amalgamation of Grimm and metal prevent me from choosing my own path!" Weiss boasted with a smile, her previous serious mood briefly being replaced with a proud tone. "My father clearly wasn't expecting me to succeed, if anything, I wager he was just trying to teach me a lesson, but I did, and here we are today." Going by the heiress's tone, it was clear that she was proud of her success that day and where it led her.

"I still can't believe your dad would do something like that just to keep you from coming to school here..." Ruby said once more, appalled by what she was told. In response to this, the same somber expression that Weiss momentarily had after her call home returned, much to her partner's distress. Before she could attempt to apologize for making her mood worse, Weiss continued.

"Yes, it was… shocking, once I realized what was happening, but not at all surprising. My father's always been this way. Whenever my father's concerned, whether it be involving family or the family business, it's either his way or no one's way."

"Gee… he sure sounds like father of the year." Ruby remarked icily. There weren't many people Ruby could say that she honestly hated, but without even meeting him, the silver-eyed huntress could say with certainty that she _hated_ Weiss's father. Everything Weiss had described him as made him sound like an amoral, controlling, and inconsiderate (and pardon her potty mouth) _bastard_ with no concern over anyone but himself.

"Yes, Ruby, I'm aware of this. In all honesty, my time here at Beacon has been like a breath of fresh air compared to my life back home…" Weiss reflected, a fond smile on her face as she thought back to the good and bad she'd experienced during her time at Beacon. However, a somber frown soon graced her features before continuing. "Which makes the possibility of heading home come summer all the more painful." A part of the heiress held onto the hope that she could stay at the Beacon dorms for the summer, but it was a waning one. Her father was too much of a control freak to allow Weiss to stay here for the entire summer and even if he did, she couldn't go off and say that spending two months at Beacon with barely any company sounded very appealing.

"Well… maybe you don't have to!" Ruby suddenly exclaimed, causing Weiss to perk up in surprise.

"...What are you implying Ruby?" The white-haired heiress asked slowly, her tone unsure.

"I'm implying that once the school year ends, you should stay at your amazing team leader and best friend's house for a summer long sleepover!" Ruby answered simply, the cheer in her tone infectious.

"You'd… you'd actually being willing to do that for me…?" Weiss asked in astonishment, her eyes widening.

"Of course I am! What are friends for, anyway?" Ruby stated with complete nonchalance. "Besides, it'd be totally awesome! I could even make up a list of things we could do for the summer just like I did before classes started back up! Just think Weiss! It'll be you, me, Yang, maybe even Blake over the summer and me and Yang'll be able to show you all the awesome parts of Patch, you'll be able to spend your summer in a beautiful part of Vale, aaaaaand you get to head straight back to Beacon once Summer ends! All without a single jerkwad dad bugging you! Just my awesome dad~!" Ruby boasted pridefully before looking towards Weiss, the expression on her face mirroring that of when she tried to impress her during initiations.

"Sooooo? Is that a great idea, or is that a great idea~!?"

As Weiss took a moment to think about Ruby's suggestion, she couldn't deny that it _was_ sounding very appealing. She was in no rush to get back to that empty, lonesome manor with only her father, brother, mother(during her rare moments of sobriety), and Klein for company. Out of the four people she just described, it was quite depressing to admit that her family's faithful butler would be the only one she'd truly be happy to see. As a whole, the Schnee manor could barely be classified as a _home_ to Weiss.

Additionally, despite some of their squabbles and differences, she had truly grown happy and attached to her teammates at Beacon, and here was her team leader, no, _good friend_ offering to let her stay at her home for the summer until classes at Beacon started up once more. Weiss understood that by the time summer came, things likely wouldn't be that simple, that her father wouldn't just simply accept her staying at Ruby's home in Vale without a word, but as it stood now, it was still a possibility.

Of course, there was the possibility that her father wouldn't allow her to stay away from home over the summer, but at the same time, if she could coerce him into letting her attend Beacon, then surely it wouldn't be too difficult to convince him to let her stay at Ruby's home for the summer! Besides, if he somehow wanted her to prove herself in another insane 'test', then she'd no doubt be able to conquer it after honing and sharpening her skills here at Beacon!

As a whole, Weiss had to admit, the idea of staying at with this silver-eyed girl's family for the summer season sounded quite appealing.

With nothing more to think about, the white-haired heiress looked directly at Ruby, who was still looking at her expectantly. "There might be a few complications on my end, but… if you're being serious about this offer, then I suppose it'd be quite interesting to see what summer in Vale is like."

Weiss tried to sound as nonchalant about her answer as possible, hopefully to mask her gratitude and slight excitement at getting to stay away from her family's home, but after dealing with her for so long, the excitable silver-eyed girl saw right through it.

"AWWWWWW YEAH! This is gonna be the best summer long sleepover in the history of Vale… EVER! In fact, I'll just call my dad right now and let him know you're gonna be staying over! We'll get the guest room setup and everything!" Ruby exclaimed excitedly, sprinting back towards the CCT tower's entrance. Or at least she would've if Weiss hadn't seen this coming from a mile away and grabbed onto her hood before she could get away.

"Grk-!" The excitable girl choked out from the sudden lack of air.

"Focus on the matters at hand, Ruby. Need I remind you that we have more urgent matters to attend to before preparing for our… ugh… _sleepover?"_ The heiress reminded her partner, trying, and failing, to bite back a groan at her wording.

"Oh! Uh, yeah, you're right! Let's go meet up with the others and discuss what we found, _then_ we can start preparing." Ruby said, her previous bout of suffocation now forgotten.

Despite herself, the heiress couldn't help but crack a small smile at her friend's behavior. " Good, I'm glad to see we understand each other."

And with that, the huntress duo left for their rendezvous point, with one of them feeling considerably better about some matters that had been troubling her for quite some time.

* * *

"Right… so let's talk prices here for a minute. How much is finding this guy worth to you?"

If Junior Xiong had to describe this night in one word, then the first word that comes to mind would be 'bizarre.'

See, while running such a high-class establishment in such a, for lack of a better word, shady part of Vale, you come to expect getting some real weirdos as customers every now and again. Sometimes, they were just some lonely drunkard that liked to get tanked before gaining the drunk overconfidence needed to try and hit on the twins (something that _never_ really ended well for them), other times, they were insane blonde psychos that decide to beat up all of your employees before trashing _your entire goddamn club_ , but on this fairly uneventful evening, Junior found himself dealing with someone that was a bit strange even by his usual standards.

The guy made his way into his club around half an hour ago, and he certainly stood out from his usual customers. Judging by his dark brown skin, orange cloak, and the various bits of exotic neckwear and jewelry that he wore, it was very easily to see that this man was some kind of foreigner. Not only that, but the guy just didn't look like the type who came to these kind of… establishments for fun or pleasure, which likely meant he was after one thing in here: Information. Junior's forte.

For the most part, this guy didn't really cause any trouble, merely asking one of his boys for a glass of hot water before using it to make _tea,_ of all things. However, after about twenty minutes, when the guy finally came up to him, the information broker was irritated to see that this man wasn't making his job very easy. He came to Junior with the job of finding some guy that was hiding in Vale for him, a type of request he was familiar with, but the problem was that he had next to nothing to go on! No name, no idea of where he might be, hell, barring one minor detail, he didn't even have a physical description to go off of! Despite his frustrations, however, no one could say Junior Xiong wasn't a professional, and he made sure to keep a collected and business-like face on for the entire conversation, barring some slight irritation that made it's way into his voice.

' _I might be able to get my boys to find something, but this guy better not expect me to accept chump change, especially with how difficult he's making this.'_ Junior thought as he waited for the man's response.

In response to Junior's talk of payment, the dark-skinned man paused for a moment, looking to be deep in thought, before a calm, mysterious smile crept onto his face, reached into his orange robe and began to fish something out. Narrowing his eyes, the information broker began to slowly reach for his club within the serving table's shelving, just in case his new client intended to try any funny intimidation tactics.

 ***Thip…***

"You can stop trying to reach for your weapon, Mr. Xiong, it isn't necessary." The man's deep, smooth voice, interrupted, sending an ungodly jolt of surprise down Junior's spine. Quickly shaking off his surprise, the information looked towards the source of the noise and saw that the man had dropped a rather hefty looking pouch

"And what's this supposed to be, exactly?" The information broker asked skeptically, grabbing onto one of the pouch's buckles and giving it a brief look over. Despite being oddly heavy, there didn't appear to be anything amiss. When it seemed clear that it was just a regular old pouch, Junior set the bag back down and opened it up, only for his breath to hitch when he saw what was inside.

"Holy _**shit…!**_ " Within the pouch was a hefty-looking pile of gold coins, gems, and beautifully crafted jewelry. What Junior was holding in his hands right now was a _**small fortune.**_

"Can I assume this is a sufficient motivation to assist me?" The robed man asked nonchalantly, reaching into his cloak once more and pulling out a small plastic zip-lock full of tea leaves. While Junior was brought into an entranced stupor by the riches suddenly provided to him, the man simply began to mash up the leaves and mix them into the hot water he requested earlier.

"Where… Where the hell did you find all this…!?" Was all Junior could say once he finally found his voice, sweat running down his face.

"The one that tasked me with this job is a man of many talents. What I've given you right now is mere pocket change in his book." The foreigner said simply, taking a sip of his newly prepared tea.

'" _ **Pocket change!?"**_ _What kinda guy considers something like_ _ **this**_ _pocket change!? Where the hell do you even get your hands on riches like this!?'_ Junior thought incredulously.

"There will be much more where that came from if you can provide me with the information I require. Consider it a 'sample,' something to motivate you, if you would." The sagely man stated as Junior continued to look at his sample payment in complete awe.

"Uh… Right, right. Well, you're not wrong about it being one hell of a motivator. I'll have my boys get to work and see what we can dig up." Junior confirmed, hastily shaking off his awe and readopting his professional air. "But just so you know pal, we'd have an easier time finding this guy for you if you gave us more to go on than just a single obscure detail." In response to this statement, the man took a moment to take a sip from his tea before answering.

"Hm… There is one other detail about this man that should help you and your men find him." " _ **「**_ _ **he is very well-built and towers over other people.**_ _ **」**_ In addition to this, he likely isn't even out of his twenties. I would recommend checking any and all local schools. He might be attending them."

"Uh… right, well, it's an improvement. So anyways, let's say I find this guy, how do I let you know? Where do I find you?" In response to this inquiry, the man didn't even look up from his tea as he reached into his orange robe and pulled out a small card to hand to Junior. Brow raised, he took it and saw that it was a card for the Fushsia hotel that was situated in the upper-class part of Vale. Scribbled onto the back of the card was a room number.

"I'm currently residing in the Fuchsia Hotel in downtown Vale, if you find someone that fits what I've told you, call this number and request for the room I'm staying in."

"Okay, so I'll bite. Just why the hell are you looking for this guy, anyway? I'm guessing he isn't an old friend of yours, considering you're paying me to find him." Junior inquired before a potential answer came to mind "This boss of yours need him for something?"

In response to this, the dark-skinned man closed his eyes before letting out a low, calm breath from his nose. When he finally spoke up, his tone was filled with the utmost steady calmness. As he spoke, he finally opened his eyes and looked straight at the man he was employing as he spoke, causing his breath to catch in his throat. "I thought you were in the business of providing information, Mr. Xiong, _not asking dangerous questions._ "

That look in this man's eyes held a dangerous gleam to it, one that made it clear that he would hurt Junior and everyone associated with him if he hindered his goals in any way at all. That look left the jaded information broker completely petrified.

"Hurry, close the door! She's coming!"

And before Junior could even attempt to respond to that thinly veiled threat to stop being so curious, the sounds of panic coming from his club's entrance snapped him out of fear-induced state the surprisingly intimidating man put him in. Looking towards the source of the noise, both Junior and his enigmatic client saw two of his men desperately trying to seal the doors shut.

"What the-!? What are you idiots doing!?" Junior exclaimed, his previous bout of fear being completely forgotten in wake of fury at his employees' apparent incompetence.

 ***Boom!***

An answer to his exclamation came when the two hefty doors suddenly blew themselves open and sent the poor saps trying to keep it closed flying. Junior had to suppress a groan of exasperation and dread when he heard the _all too familiar_ sound of a shotgun blast amid the explosion.

' _Ohhhh… that's just great. Perfect way to top off my night...'_ In information broker thought with no small amount of dread as he watched a familiar blonde teenager stroll into her club, a certain amount of poise and swagger in her walk.

"Guess who's back~?" Yang called into the club merrily, closing her eyes with an awaiting smile.

 ***CLICKCLICK CA-CHINK!***

Only for every mobster present in the club to point their guns at her head at point blank range. The moment she opened her eyes and became aware of all the weapons pointed straight at her face, the boisterous blonde's easy-going smile slowly morphed into a glare directed towards every mobster in the establishment. A tense moment passed within the club, made only worse by the records up in the club's recording studio starting to repeat. (Something that was quickly rectified by the club's DJ quickly and frantically getting the needle off the spinning record before going back to hiding.)

"Yeah, so could you define 'friend' for me?" A young man with blue hair suddenly asked, popping out from behind Yang and getting several guns pointed at his head as well.

"Stop! Stop! _Nobody shoot."_ Junior called out as he hurried towards the club's entrance, causing his men to slowly lower their weapons. Good thing too, because the last thing the club owner needed was another brawl that left half the place in ruins.

"Blondie… you're here. _Why…?"_ Junior greeted the blonde brawler, unable to prevent the confusion and dread he felt seep into his tone.

"Oh, no reason. Just looking to cash in on that drink you owe me, get some info, huntress stuff, you know how it is." The blonde brawler stated confidently, crossing her arms as she did so.

"Riiight, right... but can that wait a minute? I was actually kind of in the middle some business till you barged in." The professional criminal stated carefully. He was well-aware that he was pushing his luck right now, but he wasn't going to let a potential fortune walk right out his (blown open) doors just because blondie decided to barge into his establishment demanding something from him _again._

"Well then that business is gonna have to be put on hold now that your number one customer is here, now won't it?" Yang stated cheerfully, her tone making it clear she was in no mood to wait for Junior to finish whatever shady business transactions he was dealing with before addressing her. In response to this, Junior let out an irritated sigh before looking towards the explosive huntress with narrowed eyes.

"Look blondie, I don't care how strong you think you are. You're in _my_ club right now, and you're gonna wait until _I'm_ finished with what _I'm_ doing before I'll even _consider_ helping you, got it!?" Junior exclaimed angrily. He didn't care what she was capable of, he was not going to let himself be pushed around by a girl that wasn't even half his age in his own goddamn nightclub. However, Yang didn't appear to be very impressed by the information broker's exclamation, for she merely raised a brow questioningly before opening her mouth to respond. However, someone beat her to the punch.

"That won't be necessary, Mr. Xiong." And like that, Yang, Junior, and everyone else's attention was drawn to the owner of that thick, smooth voice. As everyone watched him, the robed man calmly walked up the club's stairs and towards the exit, only stopping to address it's owner.

"It would appear that you have some business with this young lady that you need to attend to, so I'll just leave you be." The dark-skinned man said, the expression on his face neutral. "However, please don't forget what I've told you. If you learn anything, then please contact me as soon as possible. I'll pay handsomely for any information you provide me with… so long as it's legitimate."

And before Junior could voice his confusion with that final part, the man briskly passed by both Yang, Neptune, and the various gangsters, making his way towards the club's exit.

' _What the hell was_ _ **that**_ _all about?'_ Yang thought, her lavender eyes lingering on the double doors for a moment before she remembered she had bigger fish to fry. Shaking her head, the busty blonde redirected her attention towards Junior, who was currently looking at the club's exit with a look of confusion on his face.

 ***A-HEM!*** Yang began, drawing all attention in the club back to her.

"...Yes?" Junior groaned out, resigned annoyance in his tone.

"So about that drink you owe me…"

* * *

"...By the way, before I go, there's one more question that I thought I'd ask you." Yang began before she decided she and Neptune should take her leave. Unfortunately, despite her initial suspicions, her interrogation of Junior made it clear that beyond hiring some of his men for the dust store robbery that took place the night Ruby met Joseph, he had no idea what Torchwick was trying to accomplish by associating with the White Fang, or what he needed so much dust for to begin with. With that in mind, Yang thought that she'd at least sate her curiosity on one matter before she and Neptune left. "What was the deal with that guy in the robes from earlier? Seemed like he knew you."

"Him? Why the hell are you asking about him? I thought you came here for information on Torchwick."

"What can I say? I'm a curious gal. So c'mon, humor me here."

"If it gets you out of here quicker, then fine. Why not?" Junior conceded, running both his hands down his face in an attempt to calm himself down.

"I don't really know what his whole deal is. He essentially just came in here a little while ago looking for information… kinda like what you're doing right now." The club owner explained, mentioning that last part with a small amount of dry sarcasm.

"Well then I guess we have very similar interests." Yang shot back, a small smirk on her face. "So what? Did he tell you what he was looking for?"

"Pft! Barely." Junior scoffed. "The guy barely gave me anything to go off of. No name, hardly any idea of where he might be, and something that I'd be hard-pressed to call a description."

"What? Did all he say was that this mystery guy has a birthmark in a very strange place?" Yang asked jokingly, amusement clear in her voice.

"Would you believe me if I actually said yes?"

"I… thought stuff like that only happened in the movies." Neptune was the first to speak up since Yang was too busy trying to snuff out her laughter.

"Yeah well, I guess not..." Junior shook his head before continuing. "The biggest clue I got about this guy is that he has some kinda 'star' on his shoulder, or something like that. I guess it's some kind of tattoo or something…" As he replayed that entire bizarre conversation in his head, the club owner didn't notice how Yang's laughter suddenly stopped the moment he described this 'clue.'

"He's… looking for somebody with a star on his shoulder?" Was all Yang could say once she regained her voice, her tone having lost any previous trace of humor.

"Yeah, and apparently he's supposed to be a burly type of guy too." Junior continued, scratching his chin before his eyes wandered back to Yang, causing him to pause. It seemed that mentioning that little caveat concerning the star marking caused blondie's whole posture to change considerably. Her stance was far more guarded now and the look on her face was one of both surprise and… worry?

"...Why? You know somebody that fits that description?" The interest in Junior's tone caused Yang to immediately snap out of her previous stupor. Upon realizing just how suspicious she likely looked to the information broker, and realizing just how bad it would be if he realized she had a connection to 'the guy with the star on his shoulder.' the busty blonde wiped away any previous inkling of concern she previously held.

"No, just a little baffled is all. I mean, seems like you don't have much to go on here." Yang's sudden shift from tense to her laid-back and collected was such an abrupt recovery that Junior was taken aback for a moment. And before he could say anything, she blonde suddenly turned towards the club's exit.

"Come on, Neptune." She said, gesturing towards the club's exit before continuing on her way.

"Uh, right. So we get everything we need?... Yang?" Any attempts at getting Yang's attention, however, were fruitless as she simply continued towards the club's exit, no indication of her acknowledging Neptune's question.

"Soooo… nice setup you got here." Neptune offered after a moment,

"Just get the hell outta my night club." Junior grunted, in no mood to humor the blue-haired transfer student with small-talk. Taking the hint, Neptune began to follow after Yang.

As the two teens made their exit, the club's owner kept his gaze on them for a moment before calling for one of his men.

"Hey, Pastel!" He called out, causing one of his near- identical men to stumble towards the bar. "Y-Yeah boss? Whaddaya need?"

"get some of the boys and see if you can dig anything up on Beacon Academy's students. Something along the lines of student records. Once you got em, bring them to me." He ordered.

"Got it. But uh… what do you need them for, anyway?"

"Just following up on a hunch I got…" The shady informant said offhandedly, a thoughtful look on his face.

* * *

The moment the cool night air hit her skin, Yang felt her previous tension returning to her body. Everything she just learned was bouncing through her head and it began to cause a nauseating churning in her stomach.

' _He was talking about Joseph, there's no one else he could've been talking about.'_ This simple fact raised so many imposing and dangerous questions that Yang had no answer to, and it made the churning in her stomach even worse. If what Junior told her had any semblance of truth to it, then that robe-clad man was clearly looking for Joseph Joestar. The blonde brawler couldn't think of anyone else that had a 'star marking' on their shoulder, but this raised so many more questions. Who was this man? Why was he looking for Joseph? _How did he even know Joseph existed?_ How did he know that the muscular Joestar was located in Vale? And for that matter, if he knew that the trickster of the Joestar family was located in and around the city, then why did he need to rely on Vale's criminal underworld for help?

None of these questions had any clear answer, and Yang absolutely hated it. It just didn't sit right with the blonde brawler, knowing that someone close to her could very well be in danger and that there was nothing she could do to keep them safe, something that she was willing to admit right now with no hesitation. While the brunette had been, in her own personal opinion, nothing but an asswipe since their argument, she wasn't willing to let a few heated words haze up the fact that one of her close friends could potentially be in a lot of danger right now. It'd be painfully awkward with how the both of them had been at odds as of late, but once Yang figured out how to explain it, warning Joseph that someone was apparently searching for him in Vale was going to be her immediate priority.

As the blonde brawler stood in front of her motorcycle, various conflicting and troubling thoughts running through her mind, she was only vaguely aware of Neptune piping up behind her.

"Well, here's hoping that the others found out more than we did. Granted, we learned next to nothing by coming here so I guess the bar's pretty low in this case." The bluenette sighed, taking a moment to look back at the giant, rusted double-doors.

Not exactly, we at least got _something,_ that's for damn sure..."

"Wait, _we did?_ What did we…! Ohhhh! You're talking about that guy he was apparently hired to find, right? Cool! Yeah, in that case, I guess we _do_ got something!" Neptune smiled, although it quickly faded away when he realized there was no obvious connection he could see between that man and the red-haired crime boss. "But uh… not to rain on your parade or anything, but what exactly does that guy have to do with Torchwick?"

Yang was unable to look Neptune in the eye when he asked her this. Not only did the entire question and the possibilities behind it make her stomach turn, but it wasn't exactly something she could explain to someone who wasn't aware of Joseph's origins. As pissed as she was with the big guy, it didn't feel right to explain his origins, something he was very touchy about, with someone without his consent, even if it was with one of Team RWBY's trustworthy friends like Neptune or Sun. Fortunately, it appeared that Neptune caught on to her discomfort with the entire subject.

"okay… I'm uh... guessing something about that job he got is a bit of a sensitive issue for you, right?" The blue-haired young man assumed correctly, causing Yang to nod slowly.

"Yeah… you could definitely say that Neptune." At this point, the loss of levity and humor in Yang's tone was now painfully clear for Neptune to see. He certainly wasn't privy to whatever it was in that conversation that set the normally boisterous blonde to this serious state, but it was obvious that something Junior brought up hit way too close to home for the brawler.

"Right. Well, I get that whatever it was that hit a nerve with you is probably something you don't wanna talk about, so I'll just shut up about it now." The trident wielder offered, an understanding expression on his face. Say whatever you want about him, but Neptune understood when people needed their space. There were times you sometimes needed to be more persistent in getting a person to talk about what was bugging them, and there were moments like these, where said person just needs to be left alone with their thoughts on this problem. Whatever was bugging Yang was clearly a personal issue for her, and the bluenette wasn't about to make things worse by demanding she say what's bugging her.

"Y...Yeah, that sounds good." Yang began quietly before looking towards Neptune and giving him a smile. Her smile was clearly strained, but the appreciation for not pushing the issue was clear to see in her lavender eyes. "Thanks Neptune. You're a pretty cool guy."

"Hey, well… _I am_ my team's designated 'Cool guy' so it kinda comes naturally." Neptune boasted, a proud expression on his face.

"I can see that." Yang chuckled. "Anyway, we should probably regroup with the others and tell them the club was a dead end-"

 _ ***BRZZKT!***_

Suddenly the sound of the two's scrolls lighting up caught their attention.

* * *

" _Everyone! If you can hear me, we need back-" "HEEEEEEELP!"_

"Well, I think it's safe to assume their attending that rally attracted some attention…" Weiss noted dryly as she and Ruby listened to Blake and Sun's distress call. Some time had passed since they acquired the dust shipment files, and had since entered Vale's streets to meet up with the others.

"Think they're nearby?" Ruby asked her partner, unsheathing Crescent Rose.

"OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT!"

Before Weiss could respond, the two girls' attention was drawn to the sound of panicked yelling and loud stomping from across the street. Looking over there, they were greeted with the sight of both Blake and Sun leaping across the rooftops, the later of which spewing out many panicked profanities and the both of them being pursued by a gigantic bipedal mech.

"...I'd have to assume so, yes." Weiss finally answered, drawing Myrtenaster.

"Ohhhh we _cannot_ miss this! C'mon Weiss!" Ruby exclaimed gleefully, already rushing headfirst into the fire and using her semblance to catch up with all the action. Weiss shook her head and sighed at her partner's rambunctious behavior, but couldn't help but smile as she spawned a glyph beneath her feet and used it to launch herself towards all the fast-moving action.

* * *

" _We've got a robot right behind us! A big robot! A Really big robot! Did I mention it's big!? That Torchwick guy is in it! But not, like, it didn't eat him; he's, like, controlling it or something!"_ As Sun explained the situation to them, Yang decided to forgo her previous mood and focus on the situation at hand.

"Where are you guys?" the blonde brawler questioned, pulling out her bike keys.

 _ ***BANG BANG BANG!***_

As if in response to this inquiry, the sound of stomping was suddenly heard to their right. Just like Ruby and Weiss, the two hunters in training were greeted with the sight of Blake and Sun running for their lives with a Torchwick-piloted mech in hot pursuit.

" **JUST FOLLOW THE SOUND OF STOMPING! YOU CAN'T MISS IT!"** Sun screamed, his voice being heard from within the scroll and from across the street as he and Blake ran for their lives

"Hang on guuuuuys!" Ruby called out, both she and Weiss hot behind the trail of carnage, the both of them using their semblances to keep up.

"Uh… I think that was them." Was all Neptune had to say after a brief moment.

"Yeah, I figured. Get on!" Wasting no time, Yang forgot about her previously conflicting thoughts and made her Bumblebee roar to life. As it stood now, there were bigger problems that they had to deal with.

For the rest of that eventful night, Yang's demeanor shifted from playful and joking to dead-serious and silent unless spoken to. Considering the excitement that ensued not long after in the form of Roman Torchwick trying to kill them underneath a highway in a gigantic robot suit, none of Team RWBY's members really noticed Yang's change in attitude. Afterall, she displayed plenty of emotion when she was angrily flinging the mechanized suit Roman was piloting around like it was a ragdoll, so none of the girls really noticed anything that was amiss with their boisterous teammate, at least for now.

As it stood now, though, the moment Yang got back to Beacon, she'd have to find Joseph and warn him of what she learned. She just hoped he would actually listen, or that she could bring herself to talk to them despite their rather tense relationship as of late...

* * *

"...Alright… so lemme get this straight here Jauney boy…" Joseph began,a slightly annoyed expression on his face as he looked towards his awkward blonde friend. However, instead of being meek or possessing his standard awkward disposition, the blonde swordsman had a sharp, decisive gaze to it, indicating that the subject that had the two's attention was quite important to him.

"What this 'video game' is telling me here… _**is that Killerman… is Killerman?**_ " (4)

"Obviously. Why? Do you have something in your ears or something.?" Jaune asked simply, making it sound like _he_ was being the dumb one here! _Him!_

"Oh no no! Trust me Jaune, I heard what that game said loud and clear. It's just that IT WAS THE DUMBEST FUCKING THING I'VE EVER HEARD IN MY GODDAMN LIFE! _**Killerman is Killerman?**_ Seriously, what kinda pretentious mathematician asswipe did you buy this game from, man? He must've seriously gipped you if you bought this thing and thought it was good."

"HEY! Don't you DARE badmouth this work of art while you're in the same room as me! The souls of the vengeful guests possessed the Killerman suit and then proceeded to use it to murder the park staff with chest lasers. Meaning Killerman really _**was**_ Killerman!" Jaune huffed out, crossing his arms as he made his argument.

To put things into perspective, after classes today, Jaune offered to show Joseph one of his most favorite videogames from his childhood. Still fairly new to all of Remnant's advanced technology and culture,(Thanks in no small part to all of Remnant's tech coming off as quite imposing all at once) the brunette happily accepted Jaune's offer. Afterall, he was quite curious about these 'VHS games' everyone constantly talked about in certain parts of Remnant's online media, and with the way Jaune kept singing this game's praises, the brunette figured he was in for a treat tonight.

With that in mind, and after playing through more than half of this game with Jaune, Joseph could now say with certainty that these Remnant 'video games' were… strange and sporadic, to say the least. He figured they must've been if they were all as strange as the game Jaune made Joseph play for the past several hours. Not to say that the Joestar didn't enjoy himself, because he certainly did, it's just that this game left him feeling… confused. Just… very confused…

"Man, you're fuckin' insane, you know that? This 'game' is fucking weird, and this is coming from a man who's seen a lot of weird shit in his day." Joseph scoffed in response to his blonde friend's passionate claim.

"Yeah, I know, I know, you've dive-bombed bird men into volcanos. I saw it firsthand Joseph." Jaune remarked snippily. However, instead of irritating Joseph further, an impressed expression graced the trickster's face.

"Well now! Looks like someone's finally starting to grow a backbone! Guess all that leadership junk is finally starting to pay off, huh?" Joseph jabbed jokingly, and Jaune couldn't help but smile slightly in response.

"Well, I guess you're starting to rub off on me a bit." Jaune remarked bashfully, rubbing the back of his head at his boisterous friend's compliment.

"C'mon now man! Don't be giving me _all_ the credit here, you've really come a long way since the day we first met."

"You really think so?"

"Oh yeah, definitely. Back then, you were like a baby hawk that just hatched! Barely able to stand on two feet and would've just ended up a red smear on the ground if you tried flying." As Joseph said this, a look of remembrance on his face as he thought back to his first day arrive at Beacon, Jaune was caught between offense and bafflement at the Joestar's bizarre analogy

"Well thank you for putting me down with such a colorful analogy, friend." The blonde stated once he regained his voice, sounding rather deadpan.

"But look at you now! You just need to take your wings out for a spin and start circling around for mammals to murder!" Joseph continued, completely ignoring Jaune's words.

"Uh… thanks…?" Despite Jaune's confusion, an appreciative smile made it's way onto the blonde's face regardless. Joseph might be hard to understand sometimes, but his loud, boisterous energy made it impossible to feel down whenever he was around.

"Nah, you can keep your thanks. I just appreciate you actually giving me something to do today. You'd be surprised just how boring this place is if you don't got anything to do."

"Really? You're not even slightly interested in finding out more about Remnant? Or the Grimm? Or how the Hunters operate?"

"My interest died several months ago once I started going to those boring as hell classes. I mean, sheesh! Attending all these stupid classes really reminds me of why I flunked outta school back home!" Joseph groaned out in annoyance, only to get a laugh from Jaune in response.

"Pfft, yeah right! Good one Joseph, you almost had me there." Jaune laughed at what he perceived as a joke, but after a moment of silence, he was surprised to see his muscular friend giving him a blank, deadpan look. "Wait… you're kidding me. You're saying that _you_ dropped out of high-school!? But you're one of the smartest guys that I know!"

"Well, I'll have you know that I happen to be one of those super successful entrepreneur-types that are all self taught. Mark my words Jauney-boy. Once I get back home, I'm probably gonna be making millions a few years from now." Joseph claimed confidently, puffing his chest as he did so.

"That… actually sounds pretty accurate, now that I think of it." Jaune claimed after a moment, realizing that he really had no rebuttal for that statement.

"Obviously. Anyway, it's getting pretty late, so I think I'm gonna go get some shut-eye. Tell your pals I said hi." The Joestar said, reaching towards where he left his scarf and throwing it around his neck.

"Alright, got it. Seeya." Jaune nodded, holding up his open hand as Joseph began to walk towards the dorm room's exit. Without skipping a beat, the Joestar slapped it against his own before walking out Team JNPR's dorm room.

As the door clicked closed, the brunette proceeded to stretch his arms before traversing Beacon's dormitories. However, on his way back to his room, Joseph couldn't help but notice a fairly stand-out sight within one of the dormitories' brightly lit halls. Further down the hall was a young-looking woman with a black and white uniform that was unfamiliar to the muscular brunette. She currently had her back to Joseph and seemed to be looking at something in her hand, giving him a nice view of her well groomed, ashen black hair.

Raising an eyebrow at the unfamiliar sight, Joseph began to approach the woman. "You looking for something, lady? Cause from where I'm standing, you're reminding me of a kid that got separated from his parents at the market."

"Hmm? I'm sorry, but I didn't quite catch that." When the woman turned to face him, and he got a taste of the personality her stature seemed to exude, Joseph got the distinct feeling his previous comparison was a bit off. The reason for this was because this woman seemed to just exude a confidence that indicated she was always in control of the situation at hand, no matter how bad it got. In addition to this, now that he got a good look at her face, the brunette could say with the utmost confidence that this woman was also drop dead gorgeous. Her ashen black hair crept down to her shoulders and completely covered one of her dark-yellow eyes. This also gave her the benefit of framing her pretty, flawless face quite well. In addition to this, the air of control this woman gave off only seemed to accentuate her beauty.

"...You were saying something?" The woman began once more, a questioning tone in her voice.

"U-Uh! Well… what I meant to say is that you're looking pretty lost there. Are you looking for a particular room number?" Joseph began hastily, spikes of mortification digging into the back of his neck when he realized he might've, just _might've,_ been staring for a moment there.

' _Daaaaaaamn! I've seen a lot of drop-dead gorgeous women since I've been dumped here, but this knock-out takes the cake! Now's probably a good time to act the gentleman and help her on her way~!'_ Of course, a little mental reassurance was all it took to get the trickster of the Joestar family's composure back. Joseph probably wouldn't have lived to see Remnant if he couldn't recompose himself and, more importantly, couldn't make things up as he went along.

"...I _could_ use a bit of help locating this room number, actually." The yellow-eyed woman said after a moment, handing Joseph the piece of paper with a number on it. After taking a brief moment to look it over, the brunette understood why the girl was so turned around.

"Well here's your problem, you're in the wrong building! Exchange students got their own dormitories around here. Just take a hard right after leaving through the front entrance, you can't miss it." Joseph explained to the girl, handing her back her paper.

"I see. Well, thank you for clearing that up." The enigmatic transfer stated simply. However, instead of going on her way, the yellow-eyed girl lingered within the hallway. As she leaned back and looked further down, it became apparent that she was waiting for someone, most likely her teammates. Seeing an opportunity, Joseph took this chance to strike up a conversation with this enigmatic beauty.

"So, what branch of the world are you from, sweetheart?" He asked, a flirtful tone in his voice.

"Vytal. I happen to be an exchange student from Haven academy. My partner and I came here to participate in the upcoming tournament. We would've gotten here a few days sooner, but some… complications came up and subsequently delayed us, so now, it's just myself and my partner." The clear irritation in the girl's voice as she mentioned these complications did not go unnoticed by Joseph, however, he was too preoccupied scoffing at her mentioning the tournament to really touch upon it. It seemed that the only thing everyone talked about these days was that stinking festival and it's big fancy tournament! As a proud, unrepentant slacker and someone who wasn't even entering, Joseph just couldn't see the hype in it.

"Yeesh, nobody can shut up about that stupid tournament it's festival these days, can they? I don't see the friggin' appeal." However, judging by the way that strange smile crept onto her face, and how she seemed to be holding in some slight laughter, it appeared that this woman had different thoughts on the matter.

"You're not exactly wrong, but I hardly blame everyone for anticipating the event. Afterall, I have no doubt things will be _**very interesting**_ once the Vytal festival and the tournament begins." The wording itself was innocent enough, but for some reason, the tone in her voice as she said this made the hairs on Joseph's neck stand on edge.

"Uh… yeah, I guess that's one way of looking at it…" Joseph said, unsure of how to respond to such a statement."Y'know, it really is kind of a shame to be talking to such a pretty lady without even knowing her name. Care to fix that for me~?"

"Not a very tactful thing to ask a lady, now is it? Especially one you've known for barely more than a minute…" Was all Cinder had to say in response, a small, coy smile on her face.

"Oh, is it? My bad, it's just that you're so pretty that I couldn't help but ask." Joseph admitted, a sheepish expression on his face as he rubbed the back of his head. (2)

"Hm… Charming."

' _Hehe! Barely talked to her for more than a minute and she already thinks I'm charming! I guess the ladies just love me~!'_ After patting himself on the back for how well he was doing, Joseph continued. "Anyway, you're completely right! My manners were on break just now so you'll have to forgive me. The name's Joseph Joestar, miss."

"Joestar…? I must say, that's a rather eye-catching name…" The girl remarked, looking Joseph over with slight curiosity in her eerie amber eyes.

"Isn't it? It's a family name. Been around waaaaay before that stupid naming rule was established, so it makes me and my folks a buncha' diamonds in the rough~." The muscular trickster boasted, a prideful tone clear in his voice.

"Hm… I don't doubt that…" "My own name is Cinder. A pleasure." The newly dubbed Cinder claimed, an enigmatic, possibly amused, smile creeping onto her face.

"'Cinder?' Well isn't that a nice name. Fitting for such a pretty girl like you!"

"I get the distinct impression that you're just flattering me."

"Well, maybe I am about the name part, but I wasn't joking about you being so gorgeous! Bet you've had a lot of admirers in your day, huh?"

"Well, I _have_ noticed both men and women like to look my way when they think I'm not looking." Despite the illusive tone in her voice never fading in the slightest, the amused smile on Cinder's face indicated that she was at least somewhat enjoying their conversation.

"Oh really? Now why do you think that might be?" Joseph asked jokingly, leaning against the hall wall.

The two continued to banter for a little while longer before a thick, smooth voice that sounded _eerily_ familiar to Joseph interrupted them from further down the hall.

"So there you are, Cinder. " Looking towards the source of the voice, Joseph was greeted with a young man in the same uniform as Cinder. Similar to Joseph's own Beacon uniform, the black and white uniform clung to the guy's figure, showing off a fit, muscled build. The young man had a sharp, cold face that was only complimented by his light cyan eyes and golden, shoulder-length hair. However, what had to have been the most eye-catching was the long green tail on his back, showing off _ **unmarred green reptilian skin.**_

"So, uh… this guy your-?" Joseph trailed off, watching as the blonde reptilian faunus began to approach them.

"Partner? Yes, he is." Cinder confirmed simply as the young man got within speaking distance of them.

"So if you're done making small talk, then you'll be interested in knowing I found out where our room is. You coming?" For a brief moment, the young man's icy blue gaze met with Joseph's own heated green eyes, and in that moment, he found himself taken aback. He couldn't quite place where, but something about this reptilian faunus made his skin crawl.

"What? You gotta a problem with me?" The blonde faunus spoke up harshly. Once again, the blonde's oddly familiar **(He knew he'd heard it somewhere before, but** _ **where!?)**_ tone sent an eerie chill down Joseph's spine, but his anger at being addressed so crudely was much more prominent.

"No, but I certainly got a problem with that goddamn tone of yours! Don't talk to me like I'm beneath you, buddy!" The hotblooded Joestar shot back angrily, crossing his arms as he pointed at the young man.

The reptilian faunus didn't say anything in response, merely giving Joseph a questioning gaze that infuriated him before looking towards Cinder. "Try not to keep me waiting, will you?"

"H-Hey, HEY! Don't you dare walk away from me asshole!" Joseph yelled out angrily as the blonde literally turned tail and walked away, completely ignoring the Joestar's angrily calls. When he was finally out of sight, Joseph let out a furious growl before turning towards Cinder. "What a jackass! And you're telling me that you're partnered up with him!?"

"Yes, I'm well aware of how… 'difficult' he is, but fortunately, he more than makes up for it in competence." the ebony-haired woman sighed, slight exasperation in her voice, before heading in the same direction the blonde faunus went. "Now then, I think I should be going. It was a pleasure talking to you."

"I uh… guess I'll be seeing you around then?" In response to this question, the black-haired girl stopped in her tracks and turned around slightly, giving Joseph a look at one of her piercing yellow eyes.

"I wouldn't be against any future conversations." Cinder stated simply before continuing on her way, leaving Joseph alone in the dimly lit hallway.

"Wellll… the nasty feeling I got from that asshole lizard guy aside, I'd say that whole talk went pretty well." Joseph mused happily, a warm, satisfied feeling welling up in his chest. He took a moment to just savor that feeling before finally continuing back towards his dorm room, scratching at his suddenly itchy shoulder all the while.

However, as he finally neared the hallway where his dorm room was located, Joseph spotted a familiar sight in front of the entrance to his dorm. Leaning against the door with her arms crossed was none other than Yang Xiao Long.

' _Great, perfect way to finish off my night.'_ Joseph thought with annoyance was he observed the muscle of Team RWBY. Yang didn't seem to notice his presence just yet, allowing him to soak in her current get-up. Currently, the blonde was dressed up in a flashier variation of her usual outfit which featured a greater emphasis on black and white, with a touch of lavender as well.

"Ah, there you are… you got a minute?" Yang greeted, a touch of anxiety betraying her calm tone as she walked towards Joseph.

"Well that depends. If you're gonna start bombarding me with more of the bullshit you've given me the past week or so, then I'd say I'm pretty strapped for time." Joseph stated firmly, crossing his arms. That statement alone was enough to make Yang revert back to the annoyed mood she possessed whenever she and the Joestar were in close proximity as of late.

"Hey, not my fault that you're such a hot-headed asshole that you can't see that A. you've got a good deal going for yourself here, and B. that I was only trying to help you out when I told you that!" Yang said with no small amount of irritation, causing Joseph to narrow his eyes.

"Y'know what? Forget it. I had a pretty good day so far and the last thing I wanna do is spoil it by listening to more of the goddamn bullshit you keep spewing out your mouth!" And with an annoyed huff, Joseph walked past Yang, shoving her aside none without any care, and began to head for his room, completely unaware of how Yang's expression shifted from annoyance to horror.

"No! I…! You need to hear this! It's important!" Yang stated with urgency, placing a hand on Joseph's shoulder only for him to swat it away and look at her with narrowed eyes.

"Whaaaat? You gonna start trying to confess to me now? No thanks! I prefer girls that I'm actually on friendly terms with." Joseph stated gratingly, a teasing smirk on his face that only broadened when she saw how shocked she looked.

However, once the shock wore down, all of Yang's patience evaporated in an instant.

 ***SLAM!* "!?"**

Before Joseph could even get a step past Yang, she suddenly placed her hand on his broad chest and, with superhuman strength, slammed him into the hall's wall with such force that it sent a resounding shock-wave throughout the building. It wasn't enough to draw blood (Somehow, Yang was lucid enough to control her strength just now), but it was still more than enough to leave Joseph gasping for air clutching onto Yang's fist. However, despite Joseph's muscular stature that certainly wasn't for show, he was still taken by surprise, left with no air to use his hamon, and currently being pinned to the wall by a very angry girl who was empowered by aura and spent the better part of her adolescent life training to become a huntress. With all that in mind, there was no breaking out of Yang's grip until she released him.

"LOOK! JUST PULL YOUR HEAD OUT YOUR ASS FOR HALF A MINUTE AND LISTEN TO ME!" Yang yelled furiously, her eyes going from their usual lavender to a furious dark red. Joseph, however, could barely think of a thing to say, the sheer shock of what just happened, combined with the surprising closeness of Yang's face to him, left him completely speechless. After another moment, Yang's furious red eyes widened in surprise when she finally realized just how close their faces were, causing her to relinquish her grip and look away, a faint red tint staining her cheeks.

"Geeeze, so freaking loud."

"What the hell was that loud noise earlier?"

"Hey, isn't that the girl from Team RWBY and that guy with no team?"

"Huh, so they're dating. Called it."

Before a shocked Joseph could even think to comment on this, however, the sight of doors clicking open all around them caught their attention. In no time short, the two hot-headed teenagers were surrounded by the prying gaze of various Beacon students, all of which had been woken up by the loud commotion the two caused. Furious and slightly mortified by their prying eyes and comments, Joseph said the first thing that came to mind, and that was to furiously rebuck the entire lot of them.

"The hell are you assholes staring at!? Go back to sleep and mind your own goddamn business!" The Joestar demanded angrily, taking a few threatening steps towards the various onlookers.

"Yeah! Stop staring at us and mind your own damn business!" Yang added in furiously, her furious red gaze intimidating any students that failed to listen to Joseph initially. In no time flat, the crowd dissipated quickly, once again leaving the two alone in the hall. Now that they had a moment to calm down, and being brought to Earth by their sudden crowd, the two of them had an uncertain expression on their faces. Joseph was feeling rather reluctant to speak first and Yang looked rather embarrassed, clearly upset that her actions attracted a crowd of onlookers.

"...Alright, you've got my attention now, so what did you wanna tell me?" Joseph finally said when it was clear that Yang wasn't gonna speak first.

"Look… just… do us both a favor and stay out of Vale for a few weeks, alright?" Yang sighed, rubbing her arm.

"...What? What the hell do you mean by that?" Joseph asked, clearly taken aback by such an out of nowhere request.

" _I mean_ just stay in Beacon. Don't take any airships to Vale and just stay in the academy." Yang stated firmly, a serious, steely gaze in her eyes as she looked straight at Joseph.

"Oh really? And why the hell should I listen to you? Cause if you ask me, you aren't exactly a holy grail of good advice in my book." Joseph demanded, narrowing his eyes and his rebellious attitude slowly seeping back into him.

"Look, _Joseph._ Please just stop being petty for a minute and believe me when I say it's for your own good. I don't care if we've been at eachothers' throats for the past week, you could get seriously hurt or _worse_ if you head into Vale right now. So _please,_ for no one's sake but your own, just stay in Beacon for now… alright?" The pleading look in her lavender eyes left Joseph at a loss for words. After a moment of silence where the Joestar had no idea of what he should say, he finally found the appropriate response.

"I mean… I wasn't planning on heading there anytime soon, so I guess it's no problem…" Joseph conceded, getting a sigh of relief from Yang. "But what the hell are you babbling about!? What do you mean I'll be in danger if I go down there right now!?"

"Look, I'll… me and the girls have had a rough night and I'm just feeling tired…" Yang sighed, the tone of her voice living up to her claims. "I really don't think I can sit down and explain everything right now, so please, just… do what I said, alright?"

"I'll see you soon…" And before Joseph could get a word in, Yang turned around and walked away, her long blonde locks trailing behind her.

"H-Hey! We're not done here! Why the hell can't I head into town!? Hello!?" Of course, Joseph's demands fell upon deaf ears as Yang turned a corner, once again leaving the trickster of the Joestar family as the hall's only occupant.

"Sheesh… I don't get dames. One minute she can barely stand to be around me without giving me a pissy stare, and now she's asking me to stay in the school for my own safety? Fucking complicated." Joseph sighed, leaning back against the wall as he took a moment to just think about Yang's bipolar behavior since their argument, all the while scratching at his shoulder with an irritated look on his face. However, his expression soon faded into a contemplative one as he truly thought about what she asked of him. _'Still… she sounded pretty dead serious when she told me that. Maybe I oughta do what she says, at least till I can get a straight answer out of her.'_

And Joseph walked back into his temporary home and closed the door behind him, he couldn't help but dwell on the strange conversation he just had with Yang, a deep frown on his face.

* * *

As Cinder and her faunus associate walked out of the main dorm building and into Beacon's darkened courtyard, they began to trek towards the transfer student dorms in relative silence. However as they continued their walk, Dio's cyan gaze began to look over their surrounding environment, unable to prevent the awe in his expression as he took in Beacon Academy's impressive structure, well-maintained yard, and imposing tower that... well… _towered_ over the rest of the school.

"Never thought I'd be attending a school like this, even if it is just a temporary arrangement." The reptilian faunus remarked, the disdain in his voice betraying his looks of awe.

"I take it you're not familiar with this line of work then?"

No. While I'm no stranger to subtly and stealth, I personally prefer a more straight-forward approach to dealing with issues." As he said this, Cinder could only watch with faint curiousity as Dio's face and cheeks began to crack like they were made of cheap plastic, the skin around his cheeks giving away to reveal a sharp, reptilian set of teeth.

Yes… I seem to recall those being your defining features when we first met…" Cinder noted with slight amusement, earning a scoff from the blonde faunus. From their, they continued their walk in relative silence for another moment before something else came to Dio's mind.

"Gotta say though, I didn't have you pegged for social type…" Dio noted simply, glancing at his newfound business partner skeptically. "You talking with that guy part of some big, mysterious, hidden agenda you've got?"

"Yes. Because every single one of my actions, from simply drinking a glass of water, has an ulterior motive." Cinder answered, the lack of emotion in her eerie voice indicating sarcasm. "I was simply making my own effort to find our assigned rooms, and he offered to help."

The reptilian faunus looked skeptical for a brief moment, but merely shrugged his shoulders nonchalant. "Alright, not my problem anyway..."

"By the way…" Cinder began once more, her amber eyes slowly scanning their surrounding environment. "Let's save any _**meaningful conversation**_ for when we get to our dorm room. You never no who could be listening in.

"Ah, I see. Wouldn't want any prying ears to listen in on us, now would we?"

With the both of them agreeing on this course of action, the two unlikely partners continued towards their assigned dorm room without another word.

Once the two of them set foot in the dorm room they were meant to share, Dio immediately let his bags drop gracelessly to the floor before he began to unbutton his stuffy haven academy, an expression of distaste clear to see on his face. "Rrrgh… god fucking dammit."

Before Cinder could comment on Dio's irritated behavior, she was stopped when she noticed an interesting phenomena take place with the blonde faunus's tail. Ever since they set foot at Beacon, the black-haired woman noticed how Dio's tail, which had previously been a bright blue and somehow had his name plastered all over it in yellow skin, suddenly took on a completely plain, green color. A part of Cinder wanted to comment on this earlier, but didn't think it was particularly important. However, after letting out an annoyed grunt, the mysterious woman was intrigued to see the reptilian extremity change back to it's previous coloring

"You're ability is truly a sight to behold. I understood it granted you some form of control over those snarling beasts, but I didn't think it would allow you to _**「**_ _ **change the genetic makeup**_ _ **」**_ of your reptilian side." Cinder observed, her eyes lighting up in intrigue.

"Yeah… I'm still trying to get a handle on it though, so the most I can do is change my skin tone… for now at least." Dio sighed, wiping the slight perspiration off his forehead.

"I see… and why did you even bother changing it in the first place?" Cinder asked curiously.

"Don't know why, but my intuition was telling me that I didn't wanna walk around this school with my name plastered all over my tail, which reminds me."

"Forget what I told you back at the warehouse. While we're in public, just call me Diego, at least until we're done here."

"You seemed rather adamant about it in the past though… why the sudden change of heart."

"I'm _not_ gonna go into details, but that name apparently has some _**「**_ _ **bloody history**_ _ **」**_ behind it… and I liked it just for that reason. It felt like it gave me power. Whenever I end up in a dangerous situation, just thinking of that name and the blood behind it helped reassure me, calm me down…"

"...I think can relate to what you're talking about…" Was all Cinder had to say, smirking slightly.

"Yeah… I'm sure we can." For a brief second, the young faunus appeared to return Cinder's smirk. "But as you can imagine, with such a bloody history behind it, it sometimes doubles as a bad omen. I usually just grit my teeth and ignore it, but something in me's been flaring up, ever since we set foot here, and I feel like it's telling me I shouldn't call myself _**「**_ _ **Dio**_ _ **」**_ while I'm here… so do us both a favor and just call me Diego around here, got it?"

"A superstitious request, but very well. If that's what you want." Cinder stated simply, seeing no reason to disagree.

"Glad we're on the same page." Was all he said before he began to quickly unbutton the buttons on his undershirt.

"You seem to be troubled… is that your 'intuition' bothering you?" Cinder noted tonelessly, leaning back against the wall as she watched her business partner hastily remove the upper portion of his uniform. Dio only took a moment to snort at eerie woman's comment before he continued.

"Urgh… yeah, I guess 'troubled' could be used to described how I'm feeling right now…" The faunus stated before sliding his dress shirt off his shoulders, exposing his toned, muscled, upper body. While she never would've said this out loud, Cinder had to admit that it was _quite_ the appealing sight.

"So humor me for a minute here. Is my 'intuition' taking the form of some kind of fucking rash? I've been feeling this ungodly burning around my shoulders ever since we set foot in this goddamn school." Of course, while Diego seemed completely fine with her checking his shoulders for any bug bites or disgusting skin blotches, the prospect was much less appealing to the young maiden.

"You're not very tactful are you?" Cinder sighed, not making any effort to abide by Diego's request.

"Yes well, not all of us can afford to spend every waking moment carrying ourselves with elegance or by radiating a dubious sensuality constantly like you do, Miss Fall." Was all the blonde faunus had to say in response. All Cinder did was give him a blank, deadpan stare, her yellow eyes boring into him.

"Look, would it kill you to drop the 'mysterious chessmaster' facade for _half a second_ and just humor me?" The blonde stand user said, completely deadpan. Once again, the yellow-eyed woman sighed at her associate's callous attitude, but abided nonetheless, examining Dio's shoulders for any signs of irritated skin.

"Aside from all your scratch marks and rather strange taste in tattoos, you appear to be fine." Cinder noted, walking away from Diego and reaching towards her scroll. Her sources told her that Beacon was having a dance coming up soon, and she wanted to make sure her _**surprise**_ for that occasion was ready to go when it came. However, her actions were cut short when she noticed her faunus partner looking at her with clear confusion.

"Tattoos? What the hell are you talking about?"

"I was just referring to that blatant _**green tattoo**_ you have on the back of your shoulder." Cinder stated it as though it should've been obvious that was what she was talking about, but if anything, the look of alarm on Diego's face only increased.

"The hell-!?" Wasting no time, Diego immediately got up and went straight into their dorm room's personal bathroom.

Cinder, intrigued by the normally collected faunus's confused behavior, merely watched as Diego suddenly shut off the lights and hurried out of the bathroom, clutching onto his shoulder where the tattoo was located and the look on his face being a mixture of confusion, irritation, and anxiety, all topped off by the anxious beads of sweat that were beginning to run down his face.

"When the _**fuck**_ did this thing get on my shoulder…!?"

* * *

 **Intermission 3: The PERFECT plan.**

When Ren walked into the dorm's rec room, he thought he could find himself a comfortable place to sit and catch up on his studies in relative peace and quiet. Nora was on another sugar high, so as you can imagine, Team JNPR's dorm room was even rowdier than usual.

However, what Ren didn't take into account was Joseph roping him into something completely stupid again. Albeit unintentionally in this case.

The moment Joseph heard someone walk into the rec room, he immediately turned around and yelled with the utmost urgency.

"DON'T MOVE A GODDAMN MUSCLE!"

As if on cue, Ren's body immediately froze up, not moving a single inch like he was told.

"Oh, it's you Renny. Alright, so here's the deal. Don't move a frickin' inch until I can sort all this out, alright? Don't even breath. You'll live longer that way." Joseph greeted upon seeing who he was dealing with.

"Joseph… I know I'm going to regret asking, but what are you doing?" Ren asked in his usual toneless voice.

"Uh… well… that's kind of a complicated matter you're asking me here, Renny…" Joseph admitted, biting his lip as he avoided direct contact with the calm and methodical member of Team JNPR. "Okay, I'll tell you, you have to give me the benefit of the doubt once I do, got it? There's a good reason for it!"

"Good reason for _what,_ exactly?"

"Alright, so here's the thing: I have filled this entire room with razor-sharp needles, all of which I have hung up with incredibly thin threads."

"...why?"

"Because I have to stop him Ren! Before he kills me!"

"Who?" Was Ren's only response, still deadpan.

"The _**time stopper**_ Ren! There's a time stopper in this building and he's trying to kill me!"

.

.

.

"...Okay then. Well, while you focus on trying to kill this time stopper, I think I'm just going to take a seat over there and catch up with my studies." The tone in Ren's voice made it completely clear he didn't believe a single word of what Joseph was saying in the slightest. Upon seeing him start to take a singular step, the muscular Joestar's eyes widened greatly in alarm.

"Waitwaitwait! I said don't move a goddamn mus-" Joseph's warning fell upon deaf ears, however, as Ren took a step towards the rec room's couches.

 ***ZAP!***

" **GLLHLHLHLHLHLHLH!"** The moment Ren took a step forward, however, he immediately began to seize up when a microscopic needle suddenly pricked his finger and zapped him with a charge of what pure hamon.

"Too late..." Joseph cringed as he watched his quiet friend collapse to the ground, his eyes rolling up into the back of his head. However, Joseph was pleasantly surprised when Ren suddenly let out a loud gasp and sat up, looking around the rec room frantically.

"W-WHERE AM I!? WHAT HAPPENED!? WHAT HIT ME!?"

"...My hamon needles?" Joseph suggested meekly, letting out a few nervous chuckles. In response, green-clad boy's eyes widened as he slowly got up, looking around the room carefully.

"This entire room… is filled with hanging needles…" If you weren't actively looking for it, then you were guaranteed to miss it, but Ren saw it now, clear as day. All over the room, hanging by various threads that were attached to the ceiling were a countless number of thin, sharp needles. They completely surrounded both Joseph and Ren and it was clear to see that one wrong movement meant getting pricked by god knows how many of them. And considering the _shocking_ effect that just one had on Ren and… well, it was safe to say that the young hunter in training wouldn't be making any sudden moves any time soon.

"Yeah. I tried telling you that less than a minute ago."

"Joseph…" Ren breathed out, looking quite irritated as he nursed his pricked finger. "I've come to expect a lot of insane actions from you over the last several months that I've come to know you, but this… what you've done here is _**really fucking stupid!**_ "

"GOOD! BECAUSE I MEANT OFFENSE! Seriously!? A 'time stopper!?' Do you even realize how insane, stupid… _**insane**_ that sounds!? And you've laced the entire rec room with needles because of it!?

"Oh. Oh… hoho HO! So you think I'm just some crazy moron don't you Ren?" Joseph chuckled darkly before he began to unwrap the bandages around his neck. "Well I got something else that'll catch your attention! LOOK WHAT THIS SON OF A BITCH DID TO MY NECK!" The Joestar exclaimed furiously, ripping off the rest of his bandages and revealing something that quite frankly, shocked and disturbed Ren greatly.

"...Okay, I'll admit that **is** quite concerning." Was all Ren could say after a moment, his pink gaze fixed on the **five gaping, bloody holes in Joseph's neck that were all as big as quarters.** These disturbing wounds appeared to have been inflicted on Joseph recently, as evidenced by the dried blood around the brunette's neck and how the blood within the holes themselves had only recently begun to coagulate.

"Yeah, I see I got your attention now, don't I you smarmy SOB?" Joseph said irritably, beginning to wrap the bandages around his neck once more. "I was just sitting in here, minding my own business and enjoying and ice-cold coke when that sick bastard suddenly froze time on me. Next thing I know, I'm light-headed and lying in a puddle of my own blood with holes the size of coins on my jugular. It doesn't take a genius to know what he did to me…"

"He… this man drained your blood…!"

EXACTLY! And do you know what the means, Renny? It means that we aren't just dealing with any time stopper! IT MEANS WE'RE DEALING WITH A _**VAMPIRE**_ THAT CAN STOP TIME!"

.

.

.

"Alright then…" Ren sighed, turning around. "Well, I wouldn't want to interfere with your witch hunt-"

"I'm trying to kill a vampire here, Ren, not a witch."

"-but I think I'm going to go back to my room and lie do-"

 ***ZAP!***

Unfortunately for Ren, he couldn't even take a single step out the room before he was blasted with another seizure-inducing volt of hamon from one of the needles. Another awkward moment of silence passed before Ren began to mumble something from his position on the floor.

"...How did I even manage to get this far…?"

"Beats me, but I gotta say that you're shaking off these hamon volts like a champ! I can't really say the same thing about the others, though." The boisterous brunette complemented merrily.

"What are you… oh… oh…" Ren could even finish that pained exclamation before he took a look around the room and realized that he and Joseph weren't alone. All around them were various unconscious bodies from the rest of his team, to various instructors, to people he didn't even know. There was even a man that bore a striking resemblance to Yang, albeit much older. Hell, there were even what appeared to be… _chibi_ versions of him and his team.

"Joseph… how long has this been happening for?" The green gunslinger asked slowly.

"I dunno. What day is today?" Joseph asked noncommittally, scratching his head.

"It's tuesday."

"I've been stuck in here for five hours." He stated without hesitation, a matter-of-fact tone in his voice.

"...And in those five hours, it never once occurred to you that this _wasn't_ the best spot to set up this trap of yours…!?"

"Hey now, cool your gaskets man. I had some very good reasons for that! First off, I'm clearly this bastard's primary target, so I gotta stay out in the open to lure him in! Secondly… it… kinda took me a while to set all these needles up, I don't wanna walk out of here if it means knocking them all out of place." Joseph explained, his confidence slowly fading as he went into his second reason.

"Joseph…" Ren sighed, bringing his palm up to his face in clear exasperation. "If he hasn't attacked you for the last five hours, then he most likely knows about the trap you've set up in here."

"W-What!? N-No, I mean… c'mon! There's no way that… that…" The disappointed look Ren gave him said everything. Feeling an overwhelming sense of despair overwhelm him, Joseph slumped down to the floor in defeat.

"...These needles were _really_ expensive, Ren." Joseph muttered sadly, and despite his annoyance, Ren couldn't help but give his musclebound friend a sympathetic pat on the shoulder… or at least he would've if there weren't a crap-ton of seizure-inducing hamon needles standing between them.

 ***FWOOM.*** "Grk!? H-How…!?"

Suddenly before Joseph could attempt to clear out the room, the two young men, Ren especially, were utterly flabbergasted when a large, muscular man around the same size as Joseph suddenly blinked into existence in front of them. The man in question had a bright blonde mullet, wore a tight black tank-top, crotchless chaps, and pointed yellow shoes you'd expect to find on an elf. However, the man's appearance felt secondary when compared to the fact that he was now completely covered in pin-like holes with blood oozing out of each hole. In addition to this, each of the small yet lethal wounds were apparently starting to fry his body, as evidenced by how steam started to radiate off his body.

"Is… is that…?" Ren began slowly, his tone conveying clear shock as he watched the now human (or vampiric) pincushion desperately try to reach towards Joseph, his pointed fingers barred.

"A motherfucking time-stopping vampire~? WHY YES IT IS RENNY!" Joseph stated triumphantly, completely ignoring the blonde vampire's fruitless attempts to claw at him.

"I-I'mpossible… I'm DIOOO..."

"HA! I FUCKING _KNEW_ IT WOULD WORK! IN YOUR FACE, REN!" Joseph exclaimed gleefully as he jumped back onto his feet, a self-satisfied look on his face until the blonde vampire suddenly started screaming bloody murder down his ear.

" **I'M DIOOOOOOOO-!" So yeah… that was a thing I wrote ._.**

* * *

 **1\. Yeah… so my reasoning behind that little segment was to create something similar to the narration segments in canon JoJo, where the narrator lists off some facts either for trivia or to keep everyone up to speed on what's happening. Hopefully it worked decently enough.**

 **2\. OR. For all you freakin' millennials that love replacing 'god' or maiden' with Oum, a little parfait. "SWEET MERCIFUL ARAKI WHY!?'**

 **3\. Now, I can already hear what some of you might be asking. 'Lolrus, you've gotten RWBY's canon series of events out of wack! Cinder and her merry group infiltrate Beacon at the end of 'Welcome To Beacon,' yet you showcased events that happened AFTER those events! What say you!?' And to that I say….! The complications with Emerald and Mercury caused some delays. There.**

 **4\. ...I kinda spent the past several days binge watching all of Supergreatfriend's content when I wrote that scene out ._.**

 **Oh… holy crap, I did it. I finally finished this goddamn chapter. Welp! Hope you all enjoyed and please, if you're interested, leave me a review letting me know what you thought. Hell, make me a TV Tropes pages, I wouldn't mind! JK, JK:)**


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